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Dataton WATCHOUT User's Guide

1. 155 General 157 Display 164 167 Cloning a Computers 168 DISPLAY ISSUES 169 Display Technologies 169 MVIFIDQ 4 172 General Troubleshooting 173 Jerky Movements 2220 2 2 4 174 BORING ats tate tats 175 HotSpots ennt rep ede 178 Creeping Shades 178 Optical 179 PRODUCTION PC PROTOCOL 18 List of Commdrids ic o qs 183 DISPLAY CLUSTER PROTOCOL 185 Control Options 185 Commands and 188 List of Command sie 190 Feedbacka ta bod da 196 Command ID 201 INDEX203 Dataton WATCHOUT software and this manual Copyright 2006 DATATON UTVECKLINGS AB Dataton All rights reserved Dataton and the Dataton logo are registered trademarks of DATATON UTVECKLINGS AB WATCHOUT TOUCHDOWN PICKUP GUIDEMAKER and TRAX are trademarks of DATATON UTVECKLINGS AB All other company and product names are trademarks or regis tered trademarks of their respective owners Use of
2. General Advanced Settings Driver Resources Device 0 NOTE Depending on your computer s configuration type of Device Type Dete disk drives eic your settings may Transfer Mode DMA f available v be slightly different from those shown Current Transfer Mode Utra DMA Mode 5 Device 1 Device Type Auto Detection Transfer Mode DMA f available Current Transfer Mode Applicable Appendix Computer Issues 163 DISPLAY PERFORMANCE Verify that basic functionality such as AGP and 4x or 8x transfer rate is supported by your computer and graphics card 164 WATCHOUT is based on the latest technology in computers and graphics cards For this to work optimally both the computer and the graphics card must be properly installed and configured One of the more useful utilities available to verify and control the operation of the graphics card is PowerStrip 4 Adapter information PCI device configuration AGP system configuration Adapter ID ATI generic Rev 00 Hardware enabled Transfer mechanism Disabled Location Bus 2 device 0 function 0 Software enabled Sce AGP aperture DMA Vendor ID Device ID Class code Cache line fi 28 MB DiME 1002h 4150h e dwords System memory available AGP device revision Memory addresses IRQ Latency fi 22 9 MB 3 00 co000000h whs wes r ia Pipeline depth 256 120 access C Sideband addressin
3. modern ATI or nVidia graphics card with 64 MB of video memory e High quality sound card or built in audio support e Windows XP Home Edition Mixing different kinds of computers or graphics cards in one display cluster is generally not recommended To integrate live video into WATCHOUT each display computer for displaying live video must be equipped with a suitable video input and the appropriate Appendix System requirements 153 NETWORK 154 WDM Windows Driver Model capture driver must be installed Many devices support multiple Composite and S Video inputs while some support more advanced video signal standards Suitable video input solutions include Viewcast Osprey 2xx series These are PCl bus cards providing video input functions only http www viewcast com products osprey html ATI All in wonder AIW series These are graphics cards with an inte grated video input supporting Composite and S Video signals Datapath Vision RGB Pro cards provide VGA style computer inputs http www datapath co uk visRGBPRO htm Pixelmagic SDI cards provide SDI digital video input http www pixel magicsystems com products sdi capture_card htm To use the Pixelmagic card with WATCHOUT you need to install their Sweetspot driver http www pixelmagicsystems com support downloads software The production and display computers must be connected using a TCP IP compatible network A typical
4. Feedback Parameter Description lt string gt What is being done for instance Transferring May be empty string lt string gt The subject of the above action for instance a file name May be empty uint Percentage done so far 0 100 lt string gt Address of originator empty or omitted if originating from the master Appendix E Display Cluster Protocol 197 Error Sent when any error occurs either as a direct result of a command or for any other reason Feedback Parameter Description uint Error kind 1 Operating system error for instance a Win32 HRESULT 2 QuickTime error Mac OSErr style 3 Rendering API error that is DirectX 4 Network errors that is WinSock 5 File server error for example file not found during download 6 Syntax parser error for instance when loading a specification file 7 General runtime error described by string 8 Authentication error lt int gt or lt string gt Error number or description string May be zero lt string gt Excuse or explanation may be empty string lt string gt Address of originator empty or omitted if originating from the master Operating System Error QuickTime Error 198 Indicates a generic operating system error from the host s OS Under Windows this is a HRESULT that indicates failure with the error code included as the second parameter possibly decoded into an error message string The third param
5. Also fades the audio Useful if you want to pause the show in a smooth way possibly to jump to another position along the timeline Give the command again to restore normal image display While online in standby mode an indicator is shown at the top of the stage window The fade out and fade in times for the Standby command can be set in the Preferences dialog box page 107 Chapter 7 Commands 119 MEDIA MENU Add Media File Add Proxy 120 The Media menu applies specifically to the contents of the Media window and is only available when the Media window is selected Opens a dialog box where you can choose a file to be added to the Media window Alternatively simply drag the file into the Media Stage or Timeline window Adds a proxy media item of the kind specified Use a proxy to handle media that can not be added simply by dragging into the Media window as described under Using Media Proxies on page 67 Video Proxy Pre split Pre split For Mutliple Displays File Browse File Transfer Manual gt Automatic Auto Refresh on Update Duration 10 0 Thumbnail LE Dimensions Width 800 Height 600 Transparency Auto Detect Available options vary based on of proxy being added Chapter 7 Commands Pre split for Multiple Displays NOTE Pre split movies don t play in the Stage window A placeholder thumbnail is displayed inste
6. FOR EVEN MORE CASE STUDIES CHECK OUT THE SUCCESS STORIES SECTION AT HTTP WWW DATATON COM 2 INSTALLATION This chapter tells you how to install the required software components as well as how to hook up the hardware SOFTWARE Obtain the WATCHOUT Installer either from the WATCHOUT CD ROM or a by downloading it from e http www dataton com watchout WATCHOUT 2 d Installer Run the installer and follow the on screen instructions This installs both the production and display software components adding them to your Start menu NOTE If you intend to use the computer primarily for WATCHOUT first read the section titled Dedicated Computer on page 155 Installing QuickTime If you install WATCHOUT from the WATCHOUT CD ROM QuickTime is installed automatically If you downloaded WATCHOUT from the web Quick Time is not included In this case you need to obtain it from pericu http docs info apple com article html artnum 120297 recommended http www apple com quicktime download standalone html latest IMPORTANT If you install the recommended version QuickTime 6 4 make sure you choose the Custom installation mode then click Select All to install all components Chapter 2 Installation 31 NETWORK Stand alone System LICENSE KEYS 32 The production computer and all display computers must be interconnected using a TCP IP compatible Ethernet network which c
7. When adding moving images or sound the duration of the cue is set to the duration of the media When adding still images to the timeline the duration of the cue is set to a default value You can change the duration by selecting the cue and dragging the vertical bar located at either end of the cue NOTE If the cue has any tween tracks their tween points will by default remain stationary in relation to the timeline To make the tween tracks contract or expand with the cue press the Alt key while dragging the bar For still images the image will simply remain on the stage for the duration of the cue A moving image or sound file can be cut short by decreasing the duration of the cue Increasing the duration beyond the actual length of the media will make a movie stop with its last frame visible Extending the duration of a sound file has no effect NOTE Dragging the start of a moving image cue changes the starting time along the timeline only It does not affect the in time of the movie To change the in time double click the cue and change its In Time value Use the Snap to Current Time command on the Timeline menu fo align cues or tween points in time First position the current time position see page 91 then drag the cue or tween point to the current time position NOTE To use this command you must first de select Click Jumps to Time on the Timeline menu see page 130 In addition to direct manipulat
8. 78 PRESENTATION 81 Connecting to the Display Computers 81 Running the Presentation 83 External 2 00 85 Timecode 86 WINDOWS 87 Stage 89 Timeline Window en 90 Media Window cc cccsccessceeeeessceesseenseeesees 94 Message 0 1 97 License Window 222202 0 225 98 5 103 File Menu 103 Edit 112 Stage Menu ouod at teh tees 116 Media Menu recte ttem 120 Timeline in eite 130 Tween Menu 132 DISPLAY Sarnane na 133 Display Specifications 134 Geometry Correction 136 CUES e Re NS 137 Cue Specifications 141 Tween Tracks S ee c at 145 Control ein 150 SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS 153 COMPUTE ene e 153 Live Video Input csse 153 Ne Work e p Do ee 154 COMPUTER ISSUES 155 Dedicated
9. A 1200 x 480 movie to be pre split across two overlapping 800 by 600 display areas This can all be avoided by splitting the image using the originating application prior to compression Most applications allow you to crop the output to any desired rectangle In some cases you can even set up batches to generate all the individual movie files in one go As an example assume that you have two 800 by 600 pixel displays with a 30 overlap and want to display a movie of 1200 by 480 pixels the split would appear as in the illustration to the left NOTE These figures are only chosen as an example Most modern computers would be able to play such a movie as is without pre splitting it Include the overlap in the split since the portion of the image in the overlap will have to play on both displays Likewise if the displays aren t overlapping you will have to factor in any gap between the edges of the display areas by speci fying a corresponding gap when making the split Most applications specify cropping relative to the initial image size This means that the bottom and right edges need to be calculated based on the height and width of the original large image IMPORTANT When splitting a large movie into smaller pieces like this avoid using a compressed movie as the source Doing so would introduce an additional de compression re compression step resulting in lower qual ity Thus whenever possible start out with the or
10. A video DA distribution amplifier may be required to distribute the signal to multiple inputs Such devices are available from companies such as Extron and Kramer Electronics http www kramer co il http www extron com Most capture cards require specialized software drivers Although such a driver is usually delivered with the card on a CD ROM it s often a good idea to check the manvfacturer s web site for the latest driver version For a list of suitable capture cards see Live Video Input on page 153 Some graphics cards that include capture inputs have additional drivers that must be installed separately in order to activate the capture function Please see the manufacturer s documentation on the recommended procedure since the order in which these drivers are installed is sometimes important Configure each WATCHOUT display computer that will show live video as described under Add Live Video on page 125 Optionally you can also choose to show live video in the Stage window of the production computer see Video In on page 111 Chapter 2 Installation 35 VNC SERVER SOFTWARE 36 In order to use the Remote Computer feature of WATCHOUT to integrate a live computer display into your presentation for example to display Excel or Powerpoint as part of a speaker support presentation you must install VNC server software on the remote computer This must be a separate computer it can not be one of the computer
11. LIST OF COMMANDS The table below shows the available commands with some commands explained in more detail on the following pages Command Parameters Description run Run timeline from current position halt Stop at the current position gotoTime lt vint gt Go to a time position specified in milliseconds gotoControlCue lt string gt Go to a named Control cue name is case sensitive standBy lt bool gt Set the standby mode to true or false load lt string gt uint Load a show from specified file with optional layer conditions gotoTime Jumps to a time position along the timeline specified in milliseconds gotoControlCue standBy gotoTime 60000 goes to one minute 60000 1000 60 seconds Jumps to a named Control cue Returns an error if the cue can t be found The name is specified within double quotes and is case sensitive gotoControlCue anders Enters or exits standby mode where the parameter is true or false without quotes standBy true Appendix D Production PC Protocol 183 load Condition Number to Add 2 2 3 4 4 8 5 16 6 32 and so on 184 Loads a show by name The name is specified as a quoted string containing the full path to the file The use of backslash characters in Windows path names conflict with the use of the backslash as an escape character in this protocol Either double the backslash characters or use forward slashes instead as shown in thi
12. Production for details To use WATCHOUT for running actual full scale presentations you need to hook up display computers and projectors or other display devices as shown on page 8 Chapter 2 provides details on setting up and configuring a complete system In addition to the computers and display devices you also need to acquire WATCHOUT license keys see License Keys on page 32 To run a show like the demo in this section you could start with a WATCHOUT Starter Kit product number 3154 1 which includes four license keys You would use one for the production computer and one for each display computer Chapter Introduction WATCHOUT SUCCESS STORIES THE FOLLOWING PAGES PRESENT SOME REAL WORLD CASE STUDIES INTENDED AS IN SPIRATION FOR YOUR OWN FUTURE PROJECTS AS YOU WILL SEE WATCHOUT IS A VERY FLEXIBLE PRODUCT THAT CAN BE USED IN WIDE VARIETY OF APPLICATIONS ONCE YOU VE BECOME FAMILAR WITH WATCHOUT YOU LL FIND THAT YOU END UP USING IT FOR ALL KINDS OF THINGS WHENEVER AND WHEREVER YOU NEED TO SHOW GREAT LOOKING IMAGES WHEN YOU DO PLEASE LET US KNOW A stunning 18 screen multimedia production ae entitled Global Sym Luna phony now adorns the enormous atrium style N entrance to the Global Communications Center at the CDC Centers for Disease Control and a Prevention in Atlanta Georgia Dataton WATCHOUT N the leading multi display presentation system was used to create th
13. The desired frame rate can be specified in Preferences prior to importing the images or can be altered at any time by choosing Interpret Footage Main on the File menu Assembling using Autodesk Cleaner Using Autodesk Cleaner choose Open Image Sequence on the File menu and locate the first image in the sequence Cleaner will then prompt you for the desired frame rate Chapter 3 Media 53 Using Transparency Computer generated movie with transparent background and semi transparent drop shadow playing over a background image Video Compression 54 Some applications support inclusion of transparency information in the gene rated movie file Such transparency can either come from the source material for example a computer generated animation or be added afterwards for example a feathered round mask applied to a video clip Being able to create arbitrarily shaped movies or movies with holes in them means you can combine moving and still images in many creative ways In order to include transparency information in the movie file you must choose a QuickTime codec that s capable of handling Millions of colors The at the end stands for the transparency information This is sometimes called Millions Alpha You must also use an application that s capable of repro a and or generating transparency information such as Adobe After Effects Due to the large amount of raw data in a video str
14. Video In Device 1 Vision RGB Pro Capture Video In Device 2 None Device 3 Device 4 None None Device 5 None Device 6 Device 7 None Device 8 Mone None J amp I amp I amp I amp I amp Associates video input cards in the production computer with video input device numbers subsequently used in Live Video media see Live Video on page 61 This allows you to view live video in the production computer if desired It serves the same purpose in the production computer as the Video In menu does in the display software see illustration under Add Live Video on page 125 NOTE The Video In settings in the Preferences dialog box apply only to the production computer Each display computer has its own independent assignment of video input devices This allows you to have different configu rations of capture cards in the various computers If you don t want to preview live video in the production computer s Stage window choose the Thumbnail stage preview mode in the Live Video media item see Live Video on page 61 Doing so still allows you to assign video input device numbers for use in the display computers while disre garding any setting for the corresponding video input device number in the production software In this case you can ignore the settings in the Video In section of the Preferences dialog box Chapter 7 Commands
15. is positioned at a tween point first de select all tween points then click the tween point with Click Jumps to Time selected on the Timeline menu Alternatively drag one of the handles attached to the motion path in the Stage window or double click the handle or tween point to type in the desired stage position of the image Chapter 4 Production Moving Along a Path Controlling the Speed of Motion To make the image move along a path first add a tween point by clicking at the desired time position along the tween track then drag the image to the desired position in the Stage window A line indicates the image s motion path in the Stage window Timeline Joe 2 16 813 2 15 2 2 Y Layer 1 7 Scissors mov 4 Y Layer 2 Y Position H 870 Double click a position tween point to change its incoming or outgoing speed A value of 1 indicates nominal speed with smaller values being slower and greater values being faster The speed is indicated by the white dots along the motion path with dots spaced farther apart indi cating faster motion Chapter 4 Production 79 Moving Along a Curved Path By default a Position tween point acts as a corner along the motion path To move smoothly through a point double click the point and select Smooth You can control the incoming and outgoing part of the motion independently Selecting the Smooth option reveals a yellow direction handle controlli
16. is selected otherwise it reads File In this field you specify the file or folder associated with the media item You can use the Choose button next to the field to choose an existing file folder If you set File Transfer to Manual you would instead type the fictive relative path to a file that may not exist on the produc tion computer but will be provided manually to the display computer Specifies whether the file will be transferred manually or automatically from the production computer to the display computers Normally you would choose Chapter 7 Commands 121 122 Auto Refresh on Update Duration Thumbnail Dimension Transparency Automatic You may choose Manual if the file is to be provided later directly to the display computer or if the file is not yet available NOTE If you choose Automatic WATCHOUT will make sure that the file folder you specified actually exists prior to closing the dialog box If you choose Manual it becomes your responsibility to provide the file and WATCHOUT will not verify its existence If selected an updated media file associated with this proxy will be transferred to the display computers whenever you use the Update Stage command without first having to use the Refresh Media command This is particularly useful in conjunction with the WATCHOUT Action Update Show in GUIDE MAKER since it allows selected media files to be updated without having t
17. on page 143 Chapter 9 Cues 139 Replacing a Cue s Media 140 To change the media associated with a cue drag new media onto the cue You can drag either an item from the Media window or a new media file from your hard disk HINT If you want to replace all instances of a certain media file you can change the file association of the item in the Media window instead as described under Changing the File Association on page 95 Doing so will affect all cues associated with that media item Chapter 9 Cues CUE SPECIFICATIONS The time when the media will appear on stage Starting offset into sound or movie Continue to play even if timeline stops Controls the stage window preview quality of this cue Position of anchor point within image relative to image s top left corner Specifies the settings of the current cue The options available vary with the kind of media that is controlled by the cue To open a cue s specifications dialog box select the cue and choose Specifications on the Edit menu or simply double click the cue Continuous Media Cue Indicates how long the media Time 34 6 os remains visible on stage Duration 10 0 Media will be pre rolled auto matically uncheck to specify pre roll time manually Pre Roll Automatic 0 0 Loop sound or movie when is extended past media s natural duration Free Running Best Q
18. rotation and opacity To show live video across multiple displays you must connect the video signal to each of those display computers Furthermore this video signal must be associated with the same input number on each display computer that is to display it See Live Video Input on page 34 for more details Live Video Settings In the Live Video Media dialog box set Input Device to the device number selected on the Video In menu shown in the illustration on page 125 Set the Signal Input and Video Standard as appropriate for your video connection and source If your video input interface has multiple inputs for the same kind of signal enter the desired input number in the field to the right if the Signal Input pop up menu NOTE Although WATCHOUT does support FireWire inputs this kind of signal is generally not recommended A FireWire video feed introduces a significant delay in the video processing as well as reducing performance and image quality due to the DV data compression Deinterlacing Video originating from most video cameras uses inter laced signal just like a PAL or NTSC TV set Presenting such a video signal on a non interlaced display device such as a video projector or other display Chapter 7 Commands device designed to be used with computers results in visual artifacts often referred to as combing around the edges of moving objects Use the Deinter lacing pop
19. 103 manual control of 83 opening 104 saving 104 pre splitting large movies 56 Preview Options command 117 Preview Scale command 116 Preview Stand By Layers command 118 production computer 8 control protocol 181 progressive video 51 projection screen 33 Index projector DLP 170 LCD 171 protocol 181 185 proxy 67 96 120 Q QuickFind 151 QuickTime file formats 48 installing 31 obtaining 31 R Refresh Media command 96 129 remote computer 123 rotation tweening 149 5 Save Copy command 104 Save command 104 scale tweening 147 scaling 76 Select All command 112 Select to End command 112 Select Unused command 129 serial control 85 108 188 SMPTE 86 Index sound file formats 59 installing 34 multi channel 34 59 producing 59 settings 45 Specifications command 113 speed of motion 79 stage adding displays 89 adding media 89 background color 116 online 118 outline dimmed images 117 positioning displays 135 positioning media preview 69 89 preview 116 preview quality 117 143 updating 83 119 wireframe preview 117 stage menu 116 stage window 12 63 89 still image formats 48 producing 48 sun icon in layer header 92 T TCP IP network 181 185 207 text using in presentation 50 Thumbnails command 117 time scale adjusting 90 timecode 86 195 timeline 12 68 adding cues to 68 91 jump button 91 layer 70 playing 91 settings 13 starting 91 window 90 timeline menu 130 T
20. 65 layer 70 adding 65 94 changing height 92 changing file association 66 95 collapse 90 changing path to files 114 condition 93 downloading files 82 current 91 dragging to stage 89 deleting 130 editing file 66 96 disabling preview of 92 locating file 95 inserting 130 opening original 96 renaming 130 positioning 89 138 selecting 91 proxy 67 96 120 settings 92 130 purging unused 66 LCD display 171 refreshing 66 96 129 LCD projector 171 removing 95 license key 32 selecting unused 129 live video 125 126 window 94 live video input 34 menu loop 143 edit 112 looping 83 150 file 103 media 120 M stage 116 Masked by Displays command 117 timeline 130 tween 132 message 97 removing 97 MOV file format 51 Index 205 movie 51 assembling individual frames 53 audio embedded in 60 computer generated 52 pre splitting 56 121 moving along a path 148 MPEG 51 MPEG 1 54 MPEG 2 55 N Network 187 network 9 connecting 32 control 181 185 requirements 154 network control 187 New Folder command 128 online 81 Online command 118 opacity 49 54 76 opacity tweening 146 Open command 104 optical distortion 136 179 Outline Dimmed Images command 117 206 P Paste command 112 pause cue 72 perspective correction 136 play 91 PNG image files 55 position animating 78 editing 78 moving along a path 79 80 tweening of 148 preferences 107 pre roll 142 presentation controlling 85 looping 83 making new
21. 8 UNICODE character format which is downward compatible with ASCII IMPORTANT When sending commands containing non ASCII characters such as c these must be encoded using the UTF 8 format Most commands perform silently when successful You can explicitly request acknowledge from any command as described under Command ID Tagging on page 201 For commands that take parameters parameters are separated by white space only Optional parameters are shown in square brackets like this uint The parameter types are described below String parameters are sent within double quotes This is a string Backslash is used as an escape character that is to encode a double quote in a string precede it with a backslash To send a backslash character use inside the string An unsigned integer expressed as a sequence of decimal digits 123 A signed decimal integer expressed as a sequence of decimal digits optio nally preceded by a minus sign 123 The keyword true or false with no quotes true Appendix E Display Cluster Protocol 189 LIST OF COMMANDS The table below shows the available commands with some commands explained further on the page indicated within brackets Command Description ping Do nothing command causing a Ready feedback message to be sent authenticate Perform authentication Required prior to other commands 188 load Load a show and get ready to run 191 run Star
22. 800 2 05 2 10 Anchor Rotate by dragging by dragging a point the rotation handle rotation tween point Chapter 9 Cues 149 CONTROL CUE Cue name Used to jump to a named position Name cues F1 through F12 to use function keys Time position or Control cue name fo jump to Makes the timeline fo pause or run possibly after jumping 150 The Control cue governs the behavior of the timeline The cue is performed when the timeline runs past it The Control cue can be used to make the timeline pause or jump to another position by time or by name You can use the Jump to option to create loops causing a section of the timeline to be repeated When jumping you have the option of automatically restarting the timeline after the jump In this case it is often a good idea to introduce a delay of a second or so to allow the display computers to catch up before starting This is done using the Jump to Run Delay field Control Cue Makes timeline jump to a time position or a named Control cue F2 Time 2 28 716 Jump to O Time Position Control Cue Named Jumps backwards only when jumping to a named cue C Search Reverse Only Pause Run Jump to Run Delay 2 0 Introduces a delay between the jump and re start giving display computers time to respond To exit such a loop use the QuickFind feature described on the next page possibly in conjunction wit
23. D dataton Version 3 1 ENS ATICy N CREATION TABLE OF CONTENTS 7 Welcome 7 System Overview 8 Software Overview 12 Quick 14 inse SIUCBs 17 INSTALLATION 3 31 32 License 32 Display 33 Projection 5 2 2 222 33 uui I eis 34 live Video Input i tts 34 VNC Server 36 Computer Settings eese 38 Display Computer 42 MEDIA P 47 Still Images RR ETE 48 Text scien rd ree ee 50 Moving Images ee 51 uM 59 live Vice 61 Computer oerte 61 63 Neo OA 63 ATS o RN RR RR TRE 65 68 Tween 6 2 4 73 eun m G 76 76 Scale E Uta 76 77 Anchor 22 220 77 POSITIORI rrr rr see tea tea tea
24. Due to the analog nature of the signal it is also susceptible to hum and noise as well as signal interpretation and digitalization artefacts This can result in pixel jitter and poor or varying color fidelity Some of this may be reduced by careful adjustment and tweaking of the display device and or display card Appendix C Display Issues DVI Connector o Digital Visual Interface connector GENERAL TROUBLESHOOTING Before You Begin The DVI Digital Visual Interface http www ddwg org connector is popular on LCD flat panels as well as DLP video projectors As the data to be displayed is digital to begin with it makes little sense to convert the signal to analog pass it through a VGA style connector and then convert it back to digital form again in the display device The DVI connector solves this by keeping the signal in the digital domain all the way The advantages include a rock solid image no pixel jitter and best possible image and color precision This is usually provided with little or no need for manual adjustment resulting in improved image consistency and stability The high speed digital signal makes it more difficult to run long cables or to distribute the signal to multiple display devices Extension nd distribution solu tions based on CAT 5 cables and optical fibers are available from numerous manufacturers f
25. LJ Outer Glow M Inner Glow Bevel and Emboss L Contour LJ Texture LJ Satin LJ Color Overlay L Gradient Overlay L Pattern Overlay LJ Stroke r Drop Shadow Structure Blend Mode Multiply 8 Distance er Sizes 4d 7 Quality Opacity em 75 wae 235 i Use Global Light Spread 0 px Contour J Anti aliased Noise reme 0 Layer Knocks Out Drop Shadow New Style v Preview Assuming Photoshop is installed on the production computer you can edit the text by simply double clicking its thumbnail in the Media window Save the text then choose Refresh WATCHOUT s Media menu Chapter 3 Anti aliasing of Text MOVING IMAGES High Definition Video When overlaying texts on other images it is important that the application used to save the text image supports transparency It must also be able to render the edges of the text using a variable amount of transparency often referred to as anti aliasing If that is not done properly the edges of the text will appear jagged or there will be a thin contour or halo around the text WATCHOUT can play back movies and videos saved in a Windows Media DirectShow or QuickTime compatible format including MOV WMV AVI DV and MPEG 1 2 WATCHOUT supports high definition video a resolution of 1280 x 720 or more using either MPEG 2 o
26. Protocol timecodeMode Controls the built in LTC timecode receiver The timecode receiver is initially off When turned on incoming timecode will control the presentation as if using the run halt and gotoTime commands Furthermore while playing the presenta tion will be synchronized to the timecode timecodeMode 2 1 00 00 Parameter Description lt uint gt lt int gt or lt string gt O receiver off 1 auto detect format 2 EBU 25 fps 3 SMPTE 29 97 NDF 4 SMPTE 29 97 DF 5 SMPTE 30 B amp W Time offset expressed in milliseconds or as a string in this format HH MM SS FFF where FFF is milliseconds Default is NOTE Avoid using the auto detect mode whenever possible Instead specify the expected timecode format explicitly Specifically the SMPTE 30 B amp W format can not be detected automatically Use the separate Timecode Tester application to verify proper timecode recep tion and to choose the appropriate input connector to use for the timecode signal see Timecode Control on page 86 HINT For stand alone use of the timecode control feature put this command into a text file as described under File based Control on page 185 Appendix E Display Cluster Protocol 195 FEEDBACK Ready Feedback Parameter The WATCHOUT cluster master sends feedback messages to the controller Note that the controller must be prepared to receiv
27. VO F3 wav Overview DavidBranson VO F3 wav HE F3 Water Background jpg Water Background jpg Water Background jpg WATCHOUT Wind gt 5 0 50 e o 9 E e o u Chapter 1 Introduction 15 Watch the Show Change the Show Where to Go From Here dataton WATCHOUT WATCHOUT Starter Kit The show should now appear on your screen as shown on the previous page Press the space bar to run the show Make sure you have sound playback enabled so you can hear the audio After watching the show in its entirety you can use the Function keys on your computer s keyboard to review any section as indicated in the illustration on the previous page As you can see in the Stage window this show is designed to play using three overlapped projectors Watching it in a small window on your computer doesn t come anywhere near the impact of viewing it full scale on a big screen but should still give you an idea of how a WATCHOUT show is put together NOTE For best effect some sections of the demo show such as those involving high definition video would require a more powerful computer than is stated in the minimum system specifications in Appendix A To get familiar with WATCHOUT try modifying the demo show Move things around replace graphics change cue durations and edit the parameters of cues Please refer to Chapter 4
28. WATCHOUT This can be used as a way to learn more about how to construct and send commands to WATCHOUT Please refer to the GUIDEMAKER Handbook for details Appendix D Production PC Protocol 181 Command Format Errors 182 To control WATCHOUT open TCP IP port number 3040 of the WATCHOUT production computer Each command is then sent as a string terminated by a carriage return line feed or CR LF pair command consists of a command name sometimes followed by parameters Commands are encoded using the UTF 8 UNICODE character format which is downward compatible with ASCII strings IMPORTANT Commands containing non ASCII characters such as 0 c must be encoded using the UTF 8 format String parameters are sent within double quotes Backslash is used as an escape character that is to encode a double quote in a string precede it with a backslash To send a backslash character use inside the string Commands are case sensitive Successfully performed commands are not acknowledged If an error occurs while processing a command an error response is returned Error lt uint gt lt string gt lt string gt n where the first parameter is an internal error code number the second para meter is a quoted string containing the error message and the third parameter is a copy of the offending command also as a quoted string Appendix D Production PC Protocol
29. add a tween point click anywhere on the curve in the tween track where there isn t already a tween point To edit the value of a tween point drag it using the mouse For better precision first enlarge the tween track by dragging the partition between the tween tracks Select multiple tween points to move them together Press the shift key while dragging to constrain the movement of the tween points NOTE Normally tween points can t be dragged post their neighbors To relax this constraint press the Alt key while dragging Select multiple tween points by Shift clicking or by dragging from a position outside all tween points The selected tween points can then be edited using commands on the Edit menu This makes it easy to move complex tween tracks from one cue to another by simply copying and pasting the tween points When changing the length of a cue by dragging its end you have the option of either leaving its tween points at their current time positions or making them expand and contract with the cue as if the cue was a rubber band Press the Alt key during the drag to get the rubber band effect For simple values there are two kinds of tween points corners and smooth points NOTE Position tween tracks use a different method to create smooth motion as described on page 78 Chapter 4 Production Add a corner point by clicking the curve Add a smooth tween point by Control clicking Editing Tween Points Numeric
30. any important information You should perform a backup if you re unsure about the content of the hard disk Then start the computer from the Windows XP CD ROM and follow the on screen instructions Early on in the installation procedure you will be asked where to install Windows As part of this you will get the opportunity to remove the existing partitions and create new ones which you should do Appendix B Computer Issues 155 Installing WATCHOUT Right click on the Unallocated space and choose New Parti tion Proceed with creating a primary partition of the maximum size 156 For best performance you should create a small 10 GB or so partition for Windows and any other applications you may want to install This partition will become the C drive Leave the remainder of the disk un formatted Proceed with installing Windows on the newly created small partition Once that s done install required device drivers graphics or sound card drivers etc and perform any additional adjustments mentioned in this appendix Before installing WATCHOUT you need to format the remaining space of the hard disk Choose Start gt Programs gt Administrative Tools gt Computer Management then click Disk Management in the list Computer Management nl x File Window 181 Volume Layout Type File System Status C Partition Basic NTFS Healthy Sys
31. constrain the movement to horizontal or vertical only For best precision enter the exact position using the Display Specifications dialog box page 134 To remove a display first select it then choose Cut or Clear on the Edit menu To duplicate it first choose Copy then paste the duplicate back into the Stage window When pasting a display keep in mind that the duplicate Chapter 8 Displays 133 DISPLAY SPECIFICATIONS Display General Geometry Name Display 1 Address 192 168 0 51 Primary Preferred Primary in Cluster Peer offine Test Connection Ex Size and Stage Position of Display Width 1024 Height 768 Left 100 Top 100 Color Rotation 0 degrees clockwise Stage Position of Display Center Horizontal 612 Vertical 484 134 initially occupies the exact same location in the Stage window as the original did You must move the duplicate to another location and change its name and address before using it To open the Display Specifications dialog box first select the display in the Stage window then choose Specifications on the Edit menu or simply double click the display You must activate the Stage window before you can select displays To activate the Stage window click its title bar Displays can not be manipulated if Online on the Stage menu is active Name Specifies the name of the display IMPORTANT This nam
32. file to the desired position in the Timeline or Stage window Media can be dragged from the disk or folder where it is stored or you can drag existing media items from the Media window D Shows WO3Manual MEDIA CES File Edit View Favorites Tools Help ae c Ball psd p Type Photc 50 4 KB y Computer WATCHMAKER Producti File Edit Stage Timeli Q 1 46 300 Y Layer 1 Waor st 1 45 45 1 50 il EDI Ball psd es B eng IMPORTANT Whenever possible store media files in a sub folder of the folder containing the WATCHOUT show file This allows WATCHOUT to use relative file paths making it easier to move the show elsewhere Chapter 4 Production 65 Editing a Media File Refreshing Media Information Purging Unused Media Changing the File Association of a Media List Item 66 You can open a media file by double clicking its thumbnail in the Media window To access the media from a cue in the Timeline window first double click the cue and choose Locate Media then proceed as described above After making changes to media files choose Refresh on the Media menu to load those changes into WATCHOUT Then choose Update on the Stage menu to update the stage with these changes as well After working with a show for a while you may have added many media items that are not included in the
33. for some time adding and removing media or other files the hard disk may become fragmented A fragmented hard disk signifi cantly increases the time and effort required to access and display images and video Defragmenting the disk restores it to its optimal working condition To defragment your disk choose Start gt Programs gt Accessories gt System Tools gt Disk Defragmenter Select the disk containing your WATCHOUT program folder in the list at the top of the Disk Defragmenter window and click Defrag ment NOTE Formatting the disk with a large allocation unit size as described under Installing WATCHOUT on page 156 greatly reduces the tendency of fragmentation but doesn t eliminate it If your computer has additional disks or partitions you should defragment those as well However if you ve partitioned the disk into a Windows and a WATCHOUT partition the Windows partition should not need to be defrag mented very often since it really doesn t change If you also want to remove old shows from the disk do so before you defrag ment the disk see page 82 Appendix Computer Issues Verify Disk DMA Setting Open the System control panel Click the Hardware tab then the Device Manager button Open the IDE ATA ATAPI controllers item in the list and double click Primary IDE Channel Click the Advanced Settings tab and set Transfer Mode as shown Primary IDE Channel Properties n
34. key Shows upgrades you have acquired that have not yet been stored in their license keys To update the license key connect the key with the specified license number and press Scan License Keys When successfully stored in the key the version number is transferred from the Pending to the Version column The name and address of the display computer to which this key was connected when last encountered This field is empty if the key was connected directly to the production computer Searches for license keys connected to the production computer and option ally any on line display computers Those found will be added updated in the Chapter 6 Windows Scan Online Displays Too Copy All as Text Adding and Removing Licenses list If any key found during the scan has a pending upgrade this will be trans ferred to the key and the entry will be moved to the Version column Controls whether license keys connected to any on line display computers will be included when looking for or upgrading license keys Selects all licenses and copies their content to the clipboard as text This infor mation is needed when ordering upgrades for license keys see Upgrading your Licenses on page 100 Alternatively you can copy the information from specific license keys only by manually selecting those in the list Control or Shift click to select multiple keys and then choosing Copy on the Edit menu Add new licenses by connecti
35. must be connected to each display computer that is expected to show it For instance if you want to show live video across two displays the video signal must be fed to both display computers for example using a video distribution amplifier See Live Video Input on page 153 and page 34 for more details To activate the Live Video feature follow these steps Start WATCHOUT display software on the display computer Press Ctrl W to switch to Window mode On the Video In menu make sure that your video input device is associ ated with the desired device number e Connect a video source to the video input Dataton WATCHPOINT File Video In Help Device 2 Device 3 4 dataton v ATI Rage Theater Video Capture WATCHOUT Chapter 7 Commands 125 Live Video Name Input Device 1 Signal Input Composite Video Standard 9 Deinterlacing None v Stage Preview Live Video 2 Thumbnail Trim Edges pixels 0 0 0 0 Dimensions after trimming Width Height 126 To use Live Video in your presentation do as follows Adda Live Video media item to the Media list using the command on the Media menu configuring it as described below Drag the Live Video object from the Media list onto the Stage as any other media object Live Video supports the same capabilities as video played from disk allowing you to program its position scale
36. so double click the WATCHOUT Installer found on this DVD ROM and follow the on screen instructions to install WATCHOUT on your computer The installer on the DVD ROM also installs other required components such as QuickTime NOTE Some versions of QuickTime have known incompatibilities with WATCHOUT If you already have QuickTime on your computer you may want to un install QuickTime before installing WATCHOUT thereby allowing the automatic installation of the recommended version Drag the folder titled Demo Show and Media from the WATCHOUT DVD ROM to a suitable location on your computer s hard disk Alternatively if you obtained the demo show from our web site unpack the archive file NOTE It is not possible to open the presentation from its folder on the DVD ROM You must copy it to your computer s hard disk Locate the file named WATCHOUT Demo This is inside the folder that you copied to your hard disk in the previous step Double click this file to open it using the WATCHOUT production software When opening a show for the first time WATCHOUT examines and caches media files as indicated by the progress bar This happens only once Chapter Introduction fli WATCHOUT WATCHOUT Demo BAX File Edit Stage Media Timeline Tw Help Name Thumbnail Type Dime gt Backgrounds Folder Y Fi Menu F1 Me F1 MenuBackground jpg s jpg TCHOUT 0 20 0 25 0 30 0 35 0 40 0 45 0 50 Overview DavidBranson
37. tend to move with you in relation to the projected image The only way to solve such problems is to use another screen material Suitable low gain screens for both front and rear projection are available from most professional screen manufacturers see Rear Projection on page 176 When fading an image you may sometimes see shades or ridges creeping across or around smooth image areas These artefacts are somewhat reminis cent of the Newton rings sometimes seen with slide projectors They are gener ally caused by lack of resolution similar to the description under Banding on page 175 The best way to diagnose these problems is to use a set of test images with hori zontal vertical and radial gradients Fade such an image slowly and look for bands or rings moving across the image Run the same test with a CRT display The solution for this problem is the same as outlined above under Banding on page 175 Appendix C Display Issues OPTICAL LINEARITY Pin cushion and barrel distortion Correcting Optical Errors When using multiple overlapping projectors optical linearity is important Deficiencies in optics often show up as barrel or pin cushion distortion This may be particularly troublesome when using short throw wide angle lenses often desirable for rear projection The best way to avoid this problem is to choose projectors with high grade optics and to ensure that your optics are properly matched fo
38. the display computer to the display device using other means for example using a digital DVI cable instead of the analog VGA Just as lack of synchronization in the display device can affect the smoothness of positioning and other effects created in WATCHOUT it may have a similar impact on the video material used in your presentation This is often particu larly noticeable in slow zooms and pans or in objects moving across If using a CRT display makes the video playback look considerably smoother you re most likely experiencing synchronization problems introduced by the display or projector see above This section deals with banding in smooth areas either within a static image or in the overlap area of projected images When displaying images with smooth areas and gradients limited resolution in the display may cause visible bands to appear A good way of testing this is to display a smooth grayscale ramp as in the example shown to the left Such an image can easily be created in applications such as Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop You may also want to create test images with vertical or radial gradients If such test images appear smooth on a CRT monitor while exhibiting banding using your display device the signal resolution of the display device is insuffi cient to reproduce all the steps in the gradient Such problems are typically associated with low end office grade projectors Often using a digital inter face may avoid o
39. to set the background color of the Stage window If your source material is hard to see on the default black background then change to another color This has no effect on the background color of the images shown by the display computers When this option is selected clicking an image in the Stage window always selects the corresponding cue in the Timeline window While this is the most natural behavior in many cases it may get in your way if you want fo move an image that appears partially obscured behind another image In this case uncheck this menu option select the cue corresponding to the image to be moved then drag the image in the Stage window Chapter 7 Commands Preview Options The items on this sub menu controls the preview in the Stage window They do not affect the display computers Wireframe Displays all images as boxes that contain the name of the media item rather than showing the image This is sometimes useful when trying to position images or to track down images obscured by other images Thumbnails Uses low resolution tumbnails of images and video for the stage window preview While the image quality in this mode is very low its performance is high particularly when dealing with numerous very large images NOTE As an alternative to selecting global thumbnail preview for images or video you can set individual cues to preview as thumbnails by selecting Reduced on the Stage Preview pop up menu i
40. track to control the volume of sounds and movies containing embedded audio You can play several sounds simultaneously and cross fade between them by fading up one while fading out the other See Volume on page 146 for more details Use a scale tween track to change the size of images This is particularly useful for playing video material at full screen size but can also be used as an effect for both still and moving images In addition to dragging the tween point you can also adjust the scale by dragging the scaling handle This appears in the lower right corner of the image after adding a Scale tween track Press Shift while dragging to maintain the aspect ratio of the image HINT By using negative scale values you can flip or mirror the image See Scale on page 147 for more details Chapter 4 Production ROTATION Use a rotation tween track to control the angle of images or to make an image rotate over time Rotate the image by dragging the rotation handle or the rota tion tween point You can rotate by degrees as well as by number of revolu tions or a combination of the two See Rotation on page 149 Joey ne m 2 5 2 20 Fx rd Scissors mov 5 s Rotate by dragging by dragging point the rotation handle rotation tween point NOTE The rotation handle may be hidden underneath the anchor point If so either move the anchor point as described
41. up menu set to Good Quality or Best Quality to rectify this problem when required IMPORTANT Do not use this feature unless necessary Some video material and some cameras that can be set to a progressive scan mode do not need deinterlacing and using it may reduce the image quality Stage Preview Set to Live if you want to preview the Live Video in the Stage window of the production computer Otherwise set this to Thumbnail This setting affects the Stage window preview only not what s shown by the display computers NOTE In order to preview Live Video in the Stage window of the production computer this computer must be equipped with appropriate video capture cards fed with the video signal to preview Set the input associations for the production computer in Preferences see Video In on page 111 Trim Edges The fringes of a video signal sometimes contain noise These four fields allow you to selectively trim each of the edges of the video image to remove such noise Dimensions For most video standards the dimensions are fixed by the standard However when selecting Other on the Video Standard pop up menu you can manually enter the desired dimensions Use this for example to enter the size of a computer signal brought into WATCHOUT using a DVI or VGA capture card see page 153 NOTE The dimensions shown are after any edge trimming For example if the original image is 640
42. use Photoshop to edit images save the images as Photoshop files Although most image editing applications support saving or exporting to other file formats doing so may cause a loss of information This can make it difficult to edit the image later IMPORTANT In order to use Photoshop images with WATCHOUT files must be saved with Maximize PSD File Compatibility enabled This Pho toshop option is found under Preferences File Handling File Compatibility For photographic images for example scanned or shot using a digital camera JPEG at a high quality setting often provides the best compromise between image quality and file size Keep in mind that JPEG is a lossy compression format This means that minor normally unnoticeable details in the original image may be lost in the compression process For computer generated images with large smooth areas for example screenshots PNG is a suitable cross platform format Apple s QuickTime technology is used to read image files into WATCHOUT As QuickTime evolves additional formats may be added A complete list of image file formats supported by QuickTime can be found under Apple s QuickTime support page http www apple com quicktime resources Chapter 3 Media Transparency Background image Some image formats include transparency information in addition to the image itself This transparency information is sometimes referred to as an alpha channel althou
43. video does If you don t want this cut the sound track out of the movie and place it in a file of its own thereby ending up with two media files one containing the video and one the audio This allows you to place them separately in WATCHOUT making the sound play from any computer You ll need two separate cues along the timeline to start them at the same time You can use QuickTime Pro or any QuickTime compatible video editing soft ware to split the audio and video tracks of a QuickTime movie into two sepa rate movies In QuickTime Player open the composite movie and choose Show Movie Properties on the Window menu Select the sound track and click Extract This extracts the sound track into its own movie which you then save as an AIFF or WAV file using the Export command on the File menu NOTE If your video file is not QuickTime compatible you may not be able to extract the audio from it Try opening the file using a video editing appli cation which may allow you to extract audio into a separate track which can then be exported In WATCHOUT add both the video and the sound as separate cues You can now position them independently in the Stage window allowing the sound track to play through any display computer Chapter 3 LIVE VIDEO COMPUTER DISPLAY Live video can be integrated into your presentation This is particularly useful in speaker support applications since it allows you to bring
44. well as the text copied from the license keys in the previous step Contact your Dataton reseller for further details Chapter 6 Windows Follow on screen instructions Click WATCHOUT and scroll down to WATCHOUT 3 Upgrade Apply for login name or Enter name and password Click LOGIN To order through the Dataton web shop go to http www dataton com D fe eoa LOGIN MAY BE THE MOST IMPORTANT THING YOU DO TODAY ENTER APPLICATION FORM You login to view prices on this website and to place orders directly with Dataton downloading software are also filled in automatically if you are logged in If you already have pasword simply enter it and your email address below to turn this website into your Dataton store If you don t have a login please complete the application form by clicking on ENTER APPLICATION FORM above 4 password will be emailed to you as soon as your application has been processed If you have any questions please contact business dataton se s MEE Once your order has been processed you will receive an e mail with your upgrade information Select all text in that e mail and paste it into the License Key Manager window The new license information will appear in the Pending column Connect the license keys to the computer and click Scan License Keys to transfer the pending information into the license keys When successfully stored in the license key th
45. 020 125 By placing such a video past the edge blend layer it won t be masked by the edge blend gradient alloving WATCHOUT to play it on a single display computer only assuming it fits entirely within this display NOTE Although the image is unaffected by the edge blend gradient of its display computer images shown by overlapping projectors may be super imposed on it In this case you must manually add a black box behind the video on a layer included in the edge blend but past the image causing the problem Specifies which layer conditions to enable Each layer in the Timeline window can be associated with a condition see Condition on page 93 in which case media on that layer will only appear when the corresponding condition is enabled You can specify any combination of conditions Layer conditions are particularly useful together with external control of display clusters either using Dataton PICKUP see Personalized or Multi lingual Audio on page 84 or other external control means see Appendix E Display Cluster Protocol For instance the set of enabled layers in WATCHOUT can be governed by the language selection in PICKUP matching texts and other language dependent images in the presentation NOTE The Stage window normally previews media from enabled layers only This behavior is governed by the Preview Options sub menu on the Stage menu Chapter 7 Commands nw General Edge Blend Conditions
46. 09540 on CONNECT 3D RADEON 9600 Series 128M Screen resolution Color quality Highest 32 bit Use this device as the Extend my Winde ows d Identity Troubleshoot Advanced Open the Display control panel Click the Settings tab Choose the display resolution matching your presentation using the Screen area slider Set Colors to Highest 32 bit and click Apply Click the Advanced button and Click the Monitor tab Set Screen refresh rate to an even multiple of the Display Framerate specified in the Preferences dialog box of your WATCHOUT presentation see page 108 and click Apply Philips 109540 and CONNECT 3D RADEON 9600 Serie 2 General Adapter Monitor Troubleshoot Color Management Monitor type mj Philips 109540 Monitor settings Screen refresh rate 60 Hertz Hide modes that this monitor cannot display Clearing this check box allows you to select display modes that this monitor cannot display correctly This may lead to an unusable display and or damaged hardware Chapter 2 Installation 43 44 If you don t intend to use video or if you have mixed PAL and NTSC video choose 60 fps in the WATCHOUT Preferences dialog box and set the display s refresh frequency to 60 Hz NOTE Some video projectors and LCD displays work better a
47. 111 EDIT MENU Undo Redo Cut Copy Paste Clear Select All Select to End 112 The Edit menu contains commands applying to the current window or currently selected objects for example displays cues Reverts recent changes you ve made to the presentation Transfers selected objects to the clipboard allowing them to be pasted in else where Use this for example to move cues to another position along the timeline or to another presentations Copies selected objects to the clipboard allowing the copies to be pasted in elsewhere Use this for example to transfer display configurations or cues between presentations NOTE When transferring cues between presentations in this way any media associated with these cues will transfer along with the cues and will be automatically added to the Media window in the target presentation Pastes the most recently cut or copied objects into the current window Removes selected objects without altering the contents of the clipboard Selects all objects in the current window Applies to the Timeline window Selects all cues from the current time position and forward Chapter 7 Commands Specifications Example specifications dialog box for a still image Move Opens the Specifications dialog box for the selected object This is equivalent to pressing the Enter key or double clicking the object Image Image File MEDIAjblommor
48. Chapter 2 Installation Firewall Settings IMPORTANT WATCHOUT sys tem should not be accessible from the Internet or other external net work If you must be able to access the Internet from your WATCHOUT system use a sepa rate firewall device to protect your system from security attacks The firewall feature must be turned off to not interfere with the ability to connect to and download media files to the display computers Back in the previous dialog box the one shown on page 39 click the Advanced tab and then the Settings button under Windows Firewall and make sure that the Firewall feature is turned off Windows Firewall x General Exceptions Advanced Your PC is not protected tum ns Firewall Windows Firewall helps protect your computer by preventing unauthorized users from gaining access to your computer through the Internet or a network On recommended This setting blocks all outside sources from connecting to this computer with the exception of those selected on the Exceptions tab Don t allow exception Select this when you connect to public networks in less secure locations such as airports You will not be notified when Windows Firewall blocks programs Selections on the Exceptions tab will be ignored Avoid using this setting Turning off Windows Firewall may make this computer more vulnerable to viruses and intruders What else should know abo
49. Control Looping and Jumping If you make changes to your show while online transfer them to the display computers using the Update command on the Stage menu This includes adding new media or cues Once all media has been transferred to the display computers the WATCHOUT logo on the display computers will disappear You are now ready to run your presentation To run it click the play button in the lower left corner of the Timeline window or press the spacebar You can jump to any point along the timeline by clicking in the time ruler at the top of the Timeline window see also Timeline Settings on page 131 For speaker support or other manually controlled presentations add Control cues to the timeline When run WATCHOUT performs the instructions embedded in the cue for example pauses or jumps to another position along the timeline see Looping and Jumping on page 83 You can also use Control cues to instantly go to any location in your presenta tion Give the cue the same name as one of the function keys on your computer s keyboard for example name if F1 then press that function key to jump straight to it See Add Control Cue on page 130 Use a Control cue to loop any segment of the timeline see Add Control Cue on page 130 and Control Cue on page 150 By combining this with the QuickFind feature page 115 and the Standby command page 119 you can gracefully exit loops or ju
50. EG 2 or the Windows Media high definition format However for extremely large movies spanning numerous displays even modern computers may not be fast enough to handle the required resolution as one large movie This applies in particular to computer generated movies which can be made at any resolution and framerate your animation software is capable of producing Such very large movies can be played by splitting them into individual pieces where each piece includes only the portion of the frame that will play on each display computer While this splitter function is built into WATCHOUT for still images it is not handled automatically for moving images The primary reason for this differ ence is that the original large movie would most likely have to be compressed in order to be stored and distributed to the display computers To split the movie the display computers would have to decompress each frame split it and then re compress the result again for final playback This would mean that each movie frame will be compressed twice The end result would be a loss of image quality In addition to this quality aspect there are also storage and bandwidth consid erations related to distributing and storing the original large movie in order to split it as well as the processing time involved in compressing it twice The latter would be significant for such a large movie particularly to achieve the best quality Chapter 3
51. Item Command Location i RUNDLL32 EXE C WI HKLM SOFTWARE Microsoft Windows Current er nwiz nwiz exe finstall HKLM SOFTW ARE Microsoft Windows Current er sstray sstray exe jr HKLM SOFTWARE Microsoft Windows CurrentVer WinvNC C Program FilesiReal HKLMYSOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowslCurrentVer qttask C Program FilesiQuic HKLM SOFTWARE Microsoft Windows Current er ctfmon CAWINDOWSiSystem X HKCUYTSOFTWARElMicrosoftlwWindowslCurrentVer rundll32 rundll32 exe nview dll X HKCUYASOFTWARElMicrosoftlwindowslCurrentVer WATCHOUT Display D YWATCHOUTYWATC Startup Enable AIT Disable All Cancel Apply Help 160 Appendix B Computer Issues System Services NOTE If the Administrative Tools are unavailable right click the task bar and choose Properties to display the Taskbar and Start Menu Properties Click the Start Menu tab Click the Customize button and the Advanced tab if available In the list make sure that System Administrative Tools or Display Administrative Tools if using the Classic Start menu is enabled Most background activities are not run as regular programs but as System Services You can view the installed system services by clicking the Services tab in the System Configuration Utility see previous page This also lists which services that are considered essential must not be disabled as well as the manufacturer of eac
52. Pre multiplied with Black The transparency affects both the alpha channel and the pixels in the image so that the pixels in fully transparent areas are black This is often used in material produced for video compositing purposes This feature allows you to incorporate a live image of what appears on a computer s screen into WATCHOUT This can be used to show Excel graphics Powerpoint slides a Web browser or similar software applications as part of your presentation The image displayed on the source computer s screen is sent continuously via the network to the WATCHOUT display computers where WATCHOUT composites it with other media For example you can put a plain Powerpoint presentation on top of a large high resolution background thereby enhancing it with all the high quality presentation capabilities of WATCHOUT To incorporate such a computer display referred to as a remote computer into your presentation follow these steps Chapter 7 Commands 123 Remote Computer Settings Remote Computer Name Address Screen 0 0 is default Password O Thumbnail Stage Preview Live Dimensions Width 640 Height 480 124 Install activate and configure VNC server software on the remote computer see VNC Server Software on page 36 Add a Remote Computer media item to the Media list using this command on the Media menu Configure it as described below Drag the remote computer ob
53. Ready message stating its version number and some other details To control WATCHOUT display cluster through a serial port connect the controlling device to a serial port of one of the WATCHOUT display computers The computer you connect to becomes the master of the cluster and will automatically control the other cluster members as specified by the presen tation loaded using the load command No serial port is open by default Use the serialPort command to open a serial port Put this command into a text file and use the file based control feature to perform the serialPort command see File based Control on page 185 WATCHOUT uses a simple text format for its commands Some commands may return a reply error message or other kind of response to the controller Such responses are also sent as text Before you can give any command with the exception of the ping command you must specify the authentication level To control WATCHOUT you need authentication level 1 authenticate 1 WATCHOUT responds with a Ready message You can now send other commands Each command is sent as a string terminated by a carriage return line feed or CR LF pair A command consists of a command name sometimes followed by Appendix E Display Cluster Protocol Responses and Feedback Parameters lt string gt uint int lt bool gt parameters Commands are case sensitive Commands are encoded using the UTF
54. TCHOUT The computer to supply the image must have VNC server software installed and configured See VNC Server Software on page 36 for more details Chapter3 Media 61 Using an RGB Capture Card The Datapath Vision RGB Pro VGA signal capture card 62 From a production point of view you use the live computer image just like any other image Simply add a Remote Computer object to the Media window and drag it onto the Stage or Timeline from there See Add Remote Computer on page 123 for more details Although the VNC based solution discussed above provides excellent image quality at virtually no additional cost it does require a fast computer for running the VNC server software Even so it may not provide full framerate and may impair the performance of the computer somewhat since it has to handle both the VNC server and the application being displayed for example Powerpoint As an alternative you may instead use an RGB capture card to bring the computer into WATCHOUT This solution is essentially identical to the Live Video input described above However it requires a different capture card that can be connected to the computer instead of a video camera An example of an RGB capture card is the Datapath Vision RGB Pro available with one or two inputs from http www datapath co uk visRGBPRO htm Chapter 3 4 PRODUCTION STAGE Adding and Removing Displays Arran
55. a term in this publication should not be regarded as affecting the validity of any trademark The information in this manual has been carefully checked and is believed to be accurate However Dataton assumes no responsibility for any inaccuracies or errors in this manual or the products described In no event will Dataton be liable for direct indirect special incidental or consequential damages resulting from any defect or omission in this manual even if advised of the possibility of such damages The technical information contained herein regarding features and specifications is subject to change without notice Special thanks to the wxWidgets community www wxwidgets org Dataton AB Box 454 SE 581 05 LINKOPING Sweden http www dataton com Phone 46 13 10 24 50 Fax 46 13 13 84 45 E mail info dataton se Technical Support support dataton se WATCHOUT Suggestions watchout dataton se Products or manufacturers mentioned do not constitute a recommendation or endorsement by Dataton Printed in Sweden Document number 3955 3 1 1 INTRODUCTION WELCOME About This Manual Just Getting Started To get up to speed with WATCHOUT as fast as possible go straight to Quick Start on page 14 WATCHOUT Version 3 Welcome to WATCHOUT a fully digital multi screen display technology It combines the qualities of traditional multi image with digital imagery video and the graphics power of contempo
56. ad File Folder File Transfer This option applies to video and other moving image media only Check this if you have pre split a large movie as described under Pre splitting Large Movies on page 56 In this case the resulting files must be placed in a folder specified in the File Folder field This folder must contain one file per display intersecting the movie each file named after its target display As an example assume you have a large movie called LargeMovie mpg that intersects two displays named Display 1 and Display 2 You would then pre split the movie into two files Name those files Display 1 and Display 2 and put them in a folder named LargeMovie mpg Finally specify that folder in the File Folder field of the video proxy IMPORTANT When using MPEG AVI or Windows Media files always append the proper file extension to the name of the folder containing the pre split files as shown in the example above This is needed to ensure that the correct video playback mechanism is used Note however that the indi vidual files must be named exactly as the corresponding displays and must not have file name extension appended By default Windows may not display filename extensions To show file extensions choose Folder Options on the Tools menu in Windows Explorer click the View tab and uncheck Hide extensions for known file types The title of this field reads Folder if Pre split or Multiple Displays
57. ading as you move off center Often the viewing angle is better when moving horizontally than when moving vertically as would be the case when placing multiple landscape oriented LCD displays in a column Appendix C Display Issues 171 WIRING 15 pin Mini D sub Connector 172 When connecting the display to the display computer keep the following in mind Keep analog VGA cables short If possible place the display computer close to the display powering both from the same outlet e f you must extend the cable make sure you use high grade extension cables and distribution amplifiers Usually the display is connected by using an analog 15 pin VGA style connector or a digital DVI connector Whenever possible use DVI to connect the display computer to the projector This avoids many of the analog to digital conversion problems associated with the analog VGA style interface If required DVI cables can be extended using products available from Gefen http www gefen com Extron http www extron com and others The 15 pin mini D sub connector page 165 is by a common way of inter facing a computer to a display device Although often referred to as a VGA connector it is also used to connect higher resolution displays such as XGA Advantages include the ability to easily extend and distribute the signal using extension cables and distribution amplifiers DAs available from many manu facturers
58. allow you to compensate for any errors caused by projection off axis perspective on a curved surface or for minor optical distortion NOTE Projecting straight from the front on a flat surface always gives the best image Use geometry correction only when absolutely necessary Perspective Correction Compensate for the keystone shaped image caused by off axis projection by choosing Perspective on the Correction pop up menu and dragging the corners of the grid until the image appears rectan gular on screen HINT Go online before opening the Display dialog box to see the changes on screen as you make them Horizontal Vertical or Full Correction Adds bezier handles to the top bottom left right or all four sides allowing you to compensate for projec tion on a curved surface see illustrations below Corner Shapes Adds bezier handles to the corners allowing you to compensate for minor optical distortion often associated with wide angle lenses as exemplified on page 179 The numeric fields at the bottom of the dialog box show values associated with the currently selected point The buttons next to each numeric field adjust the value with single pixel accuracy The Lock checkbox interlocks the direction handles resulting in symmetric curvature Chapter 8 Displays 9 CUES Adding Cues Selecting and Positioning Cues Cues are the active objects of WATCHOUT They control when media appear on stage a
59. ally A corner is represented by a diamond shaped tween point A sequence of corner points causes the value to change gradually and linearly between the points Often this is the desired behavior particularly when controlling opacity or volume A smooth point is represented by a round tween point and is added by Control clicking It acts as a pin attached to the curve by a rubber band When you move the smooth point away from the curve the rubber band stretches causing the curve to bend m Timeline To edit a tween point numerically double click to open its dialog box See the description of each type of tween track under Tween Tracks on page 145 for more details Chapter 4 Production 75 OPACITY VOLUME Scaling handle 76 Use an opacity tween track to fade objects in and out or to make objects semi transparent To cross fade from one image to another you only need to fade the opacity of the front most image You don t need to do anything to the image behind it as this will be obscured by the front image There is one exception to the above rule If the image contains transparent or semi transparent areas the back image will be visible see Transparency on page 49 In this case you may also need to fade out the image below to perform a smooth cross fade An opacity tween track can be applied to still and moving images See Opacity on page 146 for more details Use a volume tween
60. ammer is on line uint Current time position in milliseconds only included if show is active lt bool gt Show is playing false if paused only included if show is active Appendix E Display Cluster Protocol 193 delay Wait the number of milliseconds specified by the parameter before performing the next command in the file See example on page 187 NOTE Performed only when used in a command file wait Wait for the display cluster to become fully established before proceeding with the next command in the file Waits at most the number of milliseconds speci fied by the parameter See example on page 187 NOTE Performed only when used in a command file serialPort Open serial port for cluster control protocol use setting its parameters serialPort true COM1 Parameter Description lt bool gt Open true or close false the serial port lt string gt The name of the serial port uint Protocol selector Must be O Default is O uint Data rate in bits per second Default is 9600 uint Number of data bits 7 or 8 Default is 8 uint Number of stop bits 1 or 2 Default is 1 lt uint gt Parity 0 none 1 odd 2 even Default is none HINT For serial only control put the serialPort command into a text file and use the file based control feature to perform the commands in this file see File based Control on page 185 194 Appendix E Display Cluster
61. an image of the speaker onto the screen It can also be used to play video from tape or other external video playback devices or to use video originating from satellite links or video conference feeds Video is brought into WATCHOUT by connecting the video source directly to each display computer that will show the live video This minimizes the delay in the video signal important for speaker support applications while maxi mizing the quality by avoiding compressing the video signal See Live Video Input on page 153 for more details From a production viewpoint you can use the live video image like any other still image or video played from disk Simply add the live video object to the Media window and drag it onto the Stage or Timeline from there See Add Live Video on page 125 for more details Similar to how you can display a live video feed in your presentation you can also incorporate a live image of what appears on a computer s screen This can be used to show Excel graphics Powerpoint slides a Web browser or similar software applications as part of your presentation The image displayed on the source computer s screen is sent continuously via the network to the WATCHOUT display computers where WATCHOUT composites it with other media For example you can put a plain Powerpoint presentation on top of a large high resolution background thereby enhancing it with all the high quality presentation capabilities of WA
62. and 117 cache folder 82 CachedFiles 82 Clear command 112 cluster control protocol 185 codec 54 command file 185 conditional layers preview of 118 Consolidate command 105 control cue 130 Copy command 112 cue 12 68 137 adding 91 137 control 130 cutting 138 deleting 138 duration 71 139 media position 138 pasting 138 pause 72 positioning 137 replacing media 70 140 selecting 137 specifications 71 141 tween track 73 145 curved screen 136 Cut command 112 D DA distribution amplifier 35 deinterlace live video 126 203 display 133 adding 63 89 116 133 address 134 address prefix in preferences 107 arranging 63 duplicating 133 DVI 173 geometry 136 installing 33 LCD 171 name 134 online 118 positioning 133 removing 133 selecting 133 specifications 134 stage position 135 display computer 9 connecting to 81 quitting WATCHOUT 81 distribution amplifier 172 DLP projector 170 DV 51 DV video format 55 DVI connector 173 EBU timecode 86 edge blend disabling for layers 109 204 edit menu 112 Ethernet 32 external control 85 F file menu 103 find and replace 114 Find command 151 Find Replace Again command 115 Find Replace command 114 folder in media window 128 framerate 107 free running 143 function keys 151 G geometry correction 136 H high definition video 51 hub 32 in time 143 address 42 3 jump button 91 jumping in presentation 83 Index L media 12
63. and tween points The state of this mode is reflected by the color of the current time indicator as shown below Select this option to make the current time indicator in the Timeline window magnetic attracting nearby cues and tween points as you drag them NOTE The two modes described above are mutually exclusive In order to activate Snap to Current Time you must first deselect Click Jumps to Time Likewise selecting Click Jumps to Time implicitly disables the magnetic behavior of the current time indicator Chapter 7 Commands Timeline Settings Jump to specified time position Total duration of your presen tation Extended automatically as more cues are appended The state of the Click Jumps to Time and Snap to Current Time modes described above is also indicated by the color of the current time indicator 7 Click Jumps to Time 7 Click Jumps to Time inactive T Snap to Current Time 7 Attracting cue or tween point Displays the Timeline Settings dialog box Timetine Time Position 10 0 Duration 10 00 0 HINT Typing a value into the Time Position field takes you to that precise time This is often more accurate than trying to click a specific time in the time ruler Chapter 7 Commands 131 TWEEN MENU 132 The Tween menu is available when a media cue is selected It allows you to add tween tracks to the cue Likewise tween track
64. ayers Disabling Layer Preview Layer Name and Attributes Layer name Images and other media on this layer are displayed when in Standby mode only Perform Normal In Standby 92 Click the collapse triangle to minimize and restore the layer height Shift click to collapse expand all layers Layers can be added removed and renamed using the corresponding commands on the Timeline menu page 92 To disable the layer preview in the Stage window click the layer preview symbol to turn it off Shift click to disable enable all layers Disabling a layer allows you to manipulate images in the Stage window that otherwise would have been covered by other images Disabling a layer s preview has no effect on its playback on screen To change the name or other attributes of a layer first select the layer then choose Layer Settings on the Timeline menu Layer Name Disables layer preview in the Stage Preview review window see also page 92 Hide Layer in Stage Window Perform gt Normal In Standby For conditional layers enter a layer condition number here Set to zero for a normal unconditional layer Condition 0 0 For none By selecting In Standby images and other media on this layer will perform only when in Standby mode This allows you to keep for example a back Chapter 6 Windows Condition ground image ready to be displayed at any time thereby avoiding going
65. be one of the many dedicated web sites such as http www projectorcentral com Appendix C Display Issues LCD Projectors LCD Display Panels LCD Liquid Crystal Display projectors are in many ways similar to DLP projec tors and share many of the same advantages and disadvantages Instead of bouncing the image off a mirror an LCD projector uses an LCD slide to modulate the light The more analog nature of this technology means some LCD projectors may require more adjustment than DLP projectors and exhibit less long term stability Many LCD projectors suffer from a poor black level The problem is often even more noticeable on LCD projectors than on DLP projectors and there s a wider span of variation due to the large number of LCD chip manufacturers Always make realistic tests under the expected screen size and ambient lighting condi tions Use images of the kind you intend to use in the final presentation Some test images with white black saturated colors checkerboards and gradients are offen useful too when evaluating projectors see page 175 Modern LCD displays typically have very good color matching brightness and long term stability particularly when using a DVI cable However when using multiple LCD displays to build larger display areas bear in mind the sometimes limited viewing angle Most LCD displays are designed for optimal image quality when viewed from the front with image quality degr
66. below or drag the tween point to adjust the angle ANCHOR POINT Images scale and rotate around the anchor point The anchor point is indicated by a white crosshair in the Stage window see illustration above To change the anchor point double click the cue and change the values under Anchor Position within Image See Cue Specifications on page 141 and Anchor Position on page 144 for more details Chapter 4 Production 77 POSITION Editing Position Points 78 Use the position tween track to position an image on stage or to make an image move along a path Select one or several images on stage then drag them in the Stage window Alternatively press an arrow key while holding down the Control key to move the selected images one pixel at a time Press the Shift key as well to move in 10 pixel increments NOTE The Position tween track can not be removed since all images must have a position in order to appear To remove unwanted position tween points first select them then choose Clear on the Edit menu To make an image arrive at a specific stage location at a particular time first add a tween point at the desired time then position the image in the Stage window as described above NOTE To change the stage position of an already existing tween point make sure the timeline is positioned at that point before moving the image If not a new tween point will be added instead To ensure that the timeline
67. between the cue and tween panes using the Tab key To add a media cue to the timeline drag the media onto the timeline and drop it at the desired layer and time position as shown on page 65 Cues can be dragged along the timeline to change their timing relationship Select multiple cues by shift clicking the cues or by clicking and dragging diagonally starting from a point where there are no cues IMPORTANT Do not overlap cues on the same layer Doing so may cause images to display incorrectly When you want images to overlap in time always put their cues on separate layers Overlapping cues are indicated by a red warning line above the cues Chapter 4 Production Positioning Media on Stage Drag the image in the Stage window Stage position of the image When media is added to the timeline it also appears in the upper left corner of the top left display in the Stage window To make the image appear else where drag the image s preview in the Stage window to the desired position HINT For precise positioning of selected images hold down the Control key and press the Arrow keys to move one pixel at a time Add the Shift key to move ten pixel at a time Timeline BAX 1 46 300 45 1 50 1 55 g Y Layer 1 Ball psd 312 The position of the image is shown numerically in the Position tween track Click the triangle to reveal the numeric position If the image isn t visib
68. by 480 and you trim 10 pixels at each edge the resulting dimensions become 620 by 460 Chapter 7 Commands 127 Using Multiple Video Inputs New Folder 128 WATCHOUT supports up to eight video input devices The number of video inputs that can be displayed simultaneously depends on your computer hard ware type of video input device etc Most video input devices have multiple connectors often for different kinds of video signals for example Composite and S Video You specify which one to use in the Live Video media dialog box Add more Live Video media objects to access different inputs on the same device Generally you can only display one input at a time from any given device Furthermore it s generally not possible to make a clean switch back to back from one signal to another on the same input device You need to leave a couple of seconds between the end of the cue displaying one input and the beginning of the cue displaying the other Adds a new folder to the Media window allowing you to group related media items Any such group of media in the Media window is independent of the folders on your hard disk and serves merely as a means to organize items in the Media window Chapter 7 Commands Refresh Refreshes items in the Media list by reloading their information from the associated media files A dialog is displayed allowing you to refresh only media that has been changed or all media Select Unused Selects a
69. can t find its associated media file An information message reporting the result of the Refresh command Removing Messages The Message window lists the messages sent to you by WATCHOUT Such messages may originate from the production software or from the display computers Some messages are merely informative while others indicate errors requiring your attention Am Messages BAX c x Err Found MEDIA blommor eyeblink taa NOTE The Message window appears automatically when the first message is posted To remove messages select them either by shift clicking or by choosing Select All on the Edit menu then choose Clear on the Edit menu Chapter 6 Windows 97 LICENSE WINDOW Supported WATCHOUT versions Acquired update not yet stored into the license key Where this license key was last encountered 98 License Version Pending Location Scan License Keys This window is opened using the License Key Manager command on the File menu It displays a list of your WATCHOUT license keys This list is stored as a file in the same folder as your WATCHOUT application on the production computer WATCHOUT Licenses BAX Location Version Pending 8 559650 6 5151790 Scan License Keys Scan Online Displays Too Copy All as Text A unique license number stored inside each WATCHOUT license key The version s of WATCHOUT supported by this license
70. change the duration of all selected cues IMPORTANT If a cue has any Position tween points click the desired tween point to go to its time before dragging the image If the timeline isn t posi tioned exactly at a Position tween point a new point will be added The stage position of the anchor point is shown numerically in the Position tween track see Positioning Media on Stage on page 69 For precise adjustments press Control arrow key Add the Shift key to move in greater steps HINT You can move the stage position of multiple cues using the Move command page 1 13 This is particularly useful when merging cues from shows having different display positions To change the duration of selected cues drag the bar at either end of a cue If the cue has tween points those will by default remain stationary in relation to the timeline To stretch the tween points with the cue press the Alt key while dragging the end of the cue HINT Either end of the cue will snap to the current time position if Snap to Current Time is selected see page 130 To set the duration precisely type the desired duration into the cue s dialog box see Cue Specifications on page 141 NOTE If you extend the duration of a moving image beyond its natural duration it will by default fill the remainder using the last frame of the movie Alternatively you can make the movie run repeatedly in a loop by choosing the Loop behavior see Loop
71. copied however The consolidated presentation is then opened automatically IMPORTANT Since the Move option moves media files away from the locations specified in the original presentation you will no longer be able to use the old presentation file as media it refers to has been moved A new copy of the presentation file is created in the consolidated folder with the updated media file references Displays your WATCHOUT licenses and provides the information needed to upgrade them when new major versions are released see page 98 Quits WATCHOUT after optionally saving any changes Chapter 7 Commands Preferences Enter the common part of your display computer s IP addresses Determines the fade rates for the Standby command Enables external control of the production computer for example TOUCHDOWN remote control Display Address Prefix Allows you to specify miscellaneous settings of the presentation Preferences General Edge Blend Conditions Video In Display Address Prefix Display Framerate Sets the frame rate to be used by your display computers Stand By Enter Rate 1 0 5 p ay P Stand By Exit Rate 1 0 5 When Adding New Cues V Center Anchor Position External Control TCP IP When Opening Show C Go Online Automatically The IP addresses assigned to the displays usually only differ in the last few digits see illustration on page 40 By entering the common i
72. ctions smss exe c windows system32 smess exe FRunning Tasks svchost exe c windows system32 svchost exe Loaded Modules svchost exe c windows system32 svchost exe Services svchost exe Not Available svchost exe c windows system32 svchost exe Program Groups system Not Available Startup Programs system idle process Not Available OLE Registration winlogon exe c windows system32 winlogon exe Windows Error Reportin winvnc exe c program filessrealvnc vwinvncNwinw Internet Settings wmiprvse exe Not Available OIK gt Find what Close Find Search selected category only Search category names only HINT The names listed in the Running Tasks and Startup Programs lists are often cryptic and may be hard to associate with a particular program In this case looking at the path leading to the program s file can provide a valuable hint In particular if the program is installed under c Program Files you should be able to learn more by looking inside its installation folder 158 Appendix B Computer Issues Removing Background Programs Once you have identified any undesired background programs you should either remove or disable them If you know you won t need a background program remove it from the computer To remove a program open the Add Remove Programs control panel choose the program and click Add Remove Follow the subsequent instructions on how to remove or unins
73. dia file and allows the file to be easily accessed for editing or other purposes The cues in the Timeline window can be enhanced by applying tween tracks Tween tracks control the dynamic behavior of media on stage such as posi tion size or transparency As you make changes to the presentation those changes can be transferred to all the display computers by a single keystroke This automatically transfers any media you have added or modified to the relevant display computers and shows the result on screen As the media files and cues are cached locally on each display computer the show is ready to run at any time by simply pressing the spacebar Chapter Introduction WATCHMAKER Show File Edit Stage Timeline Tween 0 10 0 15 Eldhimmel tga gt Pano S2 AIFF Sound 0 35 0 40 0 45 S2 AIFF a Doo v Chapter Introduction 13 QUICK START Install the Software WATCHOUT Installer Copy the Demo Show Demo Show and Media WATCHOUT 3 My Documents Open the Show WATCHOUT Demo This section is designed to get new users up to speed on WATCHOUT as quickly as possible Follow the instructions to start running the WATCHOUT production software on your computer playing and editing a full blown WATCHOUT presentation It assumes that you have the WATCHOUT DVD ROM and a modern Windows computer see appendix A If you haven t already done
74. e plasma Overlapping displays using projectors 64 multiple display areas will line up properly You thereby avoid manipulation or adaptation of the images themselves oles Mstage OFF LINE Eg Ri stage OFF LINE To arrange the displays simply drag them to their desired positions using the mouse Alternatively you can position them numerically by selecting a display and choosing Specifications on the Edit menu Type in the desired position in pixels relative to the upper left corner of the Stage see Display Specifications on page 134 NOTES The Stage window must be selected in order to manipulate the displays To select the Stage window click its title bar You can not select the Stage window by clicking inside the window as this is used to select and move images when the window is not active If the Online item on the Stage menu is activated you can not select change or delete displays Chapter 4 Production MEDIA Adding Media Media file dragged into timeline appears as a cue in the timeline as well as being displayed in the Stage window The term media refers to moving and still images as well as sound These media types are treated in very similar ways with only minor differences where appropriate See Chapter 3 Media for more details To add media to your presentation choose Add Media File on the Media menu or simply drag the media
75. e scaling handle Press Shift to maintain the image s propor tions as you drag You can specily either the scale factor relative to the image s natural size or the desired size of the image on stage Negative values flip the image IMPORTANT Do not use a Scale tween track to reduce the size of large im ages significantly larger than a single display Use an image editing ap plication such as Adobe Photoshop instead Using WATCHOUT s scaling capability to reduce large images may impair performance To scale the width and height by different values first uncheck the Maintain Proportions checkbox Non uniform scaling results in a split scale curve allowing you to adjust horizontal and vertical scaling independently Chapter9 Cues 147 Position Position Time Position 2 13 0 Incoming 5mooth Speed 1 Outgoing Smooth Speed 1 Location Left 421 200 ema Moving along a Path Smooth Position tween points create a curved path White dots along the motion path indicate the speed of motion 148 Positions an image on stage To change the position drag the image or one of the motion path handles shown in the Stage window when the cue is selected To set the position numerically double click the Position tween point and type the desired position of the anchor point into the Location field HINT To move the entire motion path first select all the P
76. e spectacular show at the CDC EN A TWO STORY CASCADE of visual excitement illuminates the lobby of Nintendo World at the Rockefeller Center in New York City Nine rear projection screens arranged as three triangles stacked vertically create a swirl of animated content that bubbles up through the ceiling enticing visitors to the upper level Four big plasmas in the front windows of the gaming paradise play a fast paced attention grabber put together and programmed in Dataton WATCHOUT IMAGES COURTESY OF DOUGLAS MESNEY INCREDIBLE IMAGES IMAGES COURTESY OF VIDEMUS PARIS restaurant loungescmte 4 D D LN B With a prime location Elysees the new Cultu Burapidly become a favc imwbbexisians ceri Buca naam a 254 Dataton WATCHOUT is used in both the bar and the shop area at Cul ture Bi re Paris based Videmus stands for the multimedia and audiovi sual design The ground floor shop features six plasma screens vertically set with an artistic anima tion of growing hops explains Eric Lambert Videmus The bar is one of the longest in Paris and backed by over 20 meters of video screens This is also a WATCHOUT show The system can also display live events like soccer match or F1 race using WATCHOUT as background for multi picture display WITH JUST TWO weeks for production Simon Ex
77. e information is transferred from the Pending column to the Version column Upgraded license keys can be used with both your original version and the new version of WATCHOUT Chapter 6 Windows 101 102 Chapter 6 Windows 7 COMMANDS FILE MENU New Navigate to the desired folder using this pop up menu and by double clicking folders Type the name of the show here then click Save The File menu provides commands related to the entire presentation such as Opening old presentations or creating new ones Creates a new presentation specifying the name and location of the WATCHOUT presentation Save WATCHOUT Show As WO3Manual Of e m Production cache show_cache F Production watch 444 F Show watch My Computer My Recent Documents File name My Network Save as type WATCHOUT Show files watch v HINT To re use objects such as display arrangements and cues simply copy them from the old presentation then paste them in the new one Chapter 7 Commands 103 Open Opens an existing WATCHOUT presentation Open a WATCHOUT Show Sample Presentation Navigate to the containing folder Select the desired show then click Open My Recent Documents 2 Desktop File WATCHOUT Seminar watch vl Network Files of ty
78. e is also used to identify pre split movie files as de scribed under Pre splitting Large Movies on page 56 Thus if you use such pre split movies you should not change the name of the display after creating those movies or you ll have to rename the movies accordingly Address Specifies the IP address of the display computer that manages this display This is typically the numeric address of the display However if the display computer is accessible by name by means of a Domain Name Server you may enter the DNS name in this field instead HINT In most cases all display computers are on the same subnet which means that the first part of their IP address is identical and only the last group of digits differ as shown in the illustration on page 40 In this case it s more convenient to enter the common part of the IP address in Prefer ences see Display Address Prefix on page 107 and then enter only the last group of digits in the Display Specifications dialog box For instance if the complete address is 192 168 0 51 you would put 192 168 0 into Chapter 8 Displays the Display Address Prefix field in Preferences note the trailing period and then put 51 into the Address field in Display Specifications Peer and Test Connection Indicates the on line status of the associated display computer You can use the Test Connection button to verify the ability to connect to that particular dis
79. e often than not it s easier to start from scratch by re formatting the hard disk and re installing Windows and required device drivers only see Formatting the Disk and Installing Windows on page 155 Appendix B Computer Issues 167 CLONING A COMPUTER 168 A WATCHOUT system typically uses multiple identical playback computers Performing the above trouble shooting and tuning operations on multiple computers is tedious An alternative is to get one display computer working properly and then clone its hard disk to the others This of course assumes that they all have the same hardware configuration A fast and convenient method for cloning the hard disk is to use True Image from Acronis http www acronis com Using this program you can clone a hard disk to another computer either across a network or using a CD ROM IMPORTANT While the cloning procedure copies everything on the hard drive it does not perform any firmware BIOS or similar upgrade auto matically You may need to perform any motherboard upgrades manually after cloning the disk see Motherboard Chip Set Updates on page 165 Appendix Computer Issues DISPLAY ISSUES DISPLAY TECHNOLOGIES CRT based Displays WATCHOUT can be used with most display technologies including CRT DLP and LCD projectors LCD and CRT monitors video wall cubes and plasma screens Generally you can use any display device that s compatible with the d
80. e ruler to jump to a time position To set the time numerically choose Timeline Settings on the Timeline menu To go to the beginning of a cue or to a tween point click it with Click Jumps to Time selected on the Timeline menu see Click Jumps to Time on page 130 The current time position is indicated by a vertical colored line through the Timeline window Its color indicates the the current jump snap behavior as shown in the illustration on page 131 Click the jump button located to the right of the time ruler to jump to the current time position if scrolled out of view or to jump back to the previous start time Pressing the asterisk key on the numeric keypad has the same effect Click the play button to start and stop playback If the stage is online this also controls playback on screen During playback the Stage window shows a preview of images movies and applied effects Pressing the spacebar is equivalent to clicking the play button To add a cue drag media from your hard disk or the Media window to the Timeline or Stage window See Chapter 9 for more details on cues Click a layer s name to make it the currently selected layer When pasting an individual cue it will be pasted at the current time and layer Likewise when adding media by dragging into the Stage window a new cue will appear at the currently selected time and layer Chapter 6 Windows 91 Changing Layer Height Adding and Removing L
81. e such messages at any time not only as a direct response to particular commands Most commands execute silently unless an error occurs Use the command ID tagging feature to force commands to be positively acknowledged if desired see Command ID Tagging on page 201 When using command ID tagging any feedback message sent as a direct response to a command will be tagged by that command ID and will be sent to the sender of that command Any spontaneous feedback message that is not directly associated with a particular command will be sent to the most recently connected or authenti cated controller Sent once when becomes ready after being busy as indicated by one or more Busy messages Also sent as response to the ping command Ready 2 0 WATCHPOINT Windows true Description string string string bool lt string gt 196 The version of the program The name of the program The name of the computer OS License key is up to date Address of originator empty or omitted if originating from the master Appendix E Display Cluster Protocol Busy Sent repeatedly while busy doing lengthy tasks such as downloading or caching files Busy Transferring Media Wilfred jpg 76 Note that either or both string parameters may be empty in which case the controller should retain the previous values for these parameters and just update the progress value
82. eam storing and playing back uncompressed video is usually not feasible Video compression is base on the concept of codecs A codec which stands for compressor decom pressor is the part of the editing and display technology responsible for storing and playing back compressed digitized video There s a wide variety of codecs available each optimized for a particular kind of source material and playback requirements WATCHOUT supports both Apple QuickTime and Microsoft DirectShow codec technologies for play back Here s a rundown of some of the more commonly used codecs MPEG 1 Medium quality Generates very small files Optimized for camera video Native frame size is fixed based on a quarter of the video format s frame size Since this codec doesn t require a lot of computation power use it when you need to play a lot of small video clips at the same time Chapter 3 Recommended Compression Formats MPEG 2 High quality Used on DVD video discs Optimized for camera video at normal frame sizes Also supports high definition formats with some encoders see High Definition Video on page 51 The WATCHOUT MPEG 2 decoder performs de interlacing automatically when required Quicktime Animation High quality Very low compression Optimized for computer generated material Supports transparency when set to Millions of colors QuickTime PNG High quality non destructive Low compression Opti mized for c
83. eter may provide additional information Similar to the Operating System Error but originating from QuickTime This is treated separately from the OS errors since the QT errors use MacOS style error codes even under Windows This kind of error typically originates from still image files or from video files as they are opened or played The third parameter generally contains the name of the offending media file Appendix E Display Cluster Protocol Rendering API Error Network Error File Server Error Syntax Parser Error General Runtime Error Error occurred specifically related to rendering This is similar to other oper ating system errors except that you also know that it occurred while rendering Sometimes rendering errors occur due to display card driver issues video memory or other hardware resource limitations Error occurred specifically related to network communication This is similar to other operating system errors except that you also know that it occurred specifically while using the network Sometimes network errors are caused by network interface hardware or driver issues the computer s network configu ration or problems on the network itself for instance a bad cable hub or incorrectly configured router Error occurred when attempting to get a file from the media file server The error number the same as those listed for the first Reply parameter in the File Transfer group The Excuse string is typicall
84. etwork Control for any other computers in the WATCHOUT display cluster to become ready and then runs the show authenticate 1 setLogoString The show will begin shortly delay 5000 load MyShow wait run See each individual command later in this appendix for details IMPORTANT If using non ASCII characters in the show name for example 6 0 your text editor must be able to save the text using the UTF 8 encoding If you re unsure about this it s usually easiest to rename the show to avoid non ASCII characters NOTE Any errors occurring while executing commands from a such a command file are displayed in a console window However to see this window you have to close the main WATCHOUT display window by pressing Ctrl W Keep this in mind if your command file doesn t work as expected To control a WATCHOUT display cluster via the network connect to TCP IP port number 3039 of one of the WATCHOUT display computers The computer you initiate communication with becomes the master of the cluster and will automatically control the other cluster members as specified by the presenta tion loaded using the load command Appendix E Display Cluster Protocol 187 Serial Control COMMANDS AND RESPONSES Authentication Command Format 188 Use a Telnet program to check the communication Open the port specified above then type ping and press Return WATCHOUT will respond with a
85. eyeblink tgal Transparency Auta Detect vl See Display Specifications on page 134 and Cue Specifications on page 141 for more details For media proxy items see page 120 Moves the selected objects by a specified number of pixels Applies to cues and displays When applied to cues it moves the stage positions of media controlled by the cues Move Horizontal Distance 0 pixels Vertical Distance 0 pixels Chapter 7 Commands 113 Find Replace Search text Check this box to replace the found text Distinguishes Arne from arne 114 Finds and optionally replaces specified text When applied to the Media window this allows you to locate media items by specifying the name of the media file or any part of its path name The command operates on the infor mation shown in the File Location column of the Media window indicating the relative or absolute path to the media file You can use the Replace function to update the path to media files after they have been moved to another disk or folder For instance if you start out with your media files on a shared server during the early stage of production you may later want to move all media files into a sub folder of the folder containing the presentation file After transferring the files use the Find Replace command to change the absolute part of the path name beginning with a character to a relative that is beginnin
86. final version These media references persist in the Media window regardless whether any cues actually use them To remove such unused media from the Media window choose Select Unused on the Media menu and then Clear on the Edit menu NOTE This operation will only remove unused entries from the Media window It will not remove any files from your hard disk Sometimes when editing a media file you may want to keep both the old and the new version of the file around in case you change your mind In this case you end up with two or more similar media files with different names To change the link between an item in the Media window and a file double click the file name in the Media window and choose another file This will affect all cues that use this media list item NOTE You can only relink it to another file of the same kind You can not change from an image file to a sound file for example Chapter 4 Production Using Media Proxies Occasionally you may want fo use media in your presentation but can not import it simply by dragging This would happen in the following cases The media file isn t recognized by the production computer but you know it can be handled by the display computers Perhaps the media requires specialized codec in the playback computer possibly using dedicated hardware which is not available in the production computer The media file is a large movie that has been pre split in
87. for all image types You may have to locate a typical or particularly problematic image in your presentation and tweak the edge blend curve using that image for the best possible result see Edge Blend Curve on page 109 Non linear Gamma Settings Most LCD and DLP projectors have a gamma curve setting often with a number of standard curves to choose from Appendix C Display Issues Thin Dark or Bright Slivers In order to achieve maximum perceived brightness such projectors often come preset to some high brightness gamma curve While such a gamma curve may provide some additional brightness its non linear nature tends to interfere with the ability to achieve a smooth edge blend Furthermore it also results in washed out colors and a general lack of contrast To avoid this problem chose a more linear gamma curve often called Photographic or Video Projecting a gray ramp or an image with horizontal strips of varying black level for example eleven strips from O to 100 white in 10 increments often reveals problems associated with a non linear gamma setting Gray Boxes in Dark Images Due to the poor contrast ratio of some LCD and DLP based projectors lighter areas in the overlaps of black or very dark images are sometimes inevitable You can minimize the effect by reducing the light output of the projectors if possible or by increasing the ambient lighting in the room Often however the best solution is to a
88. for short cyclical animations where the movie then contains only a single cycle NOTE To see the effect of this behavior the duration of the cue must be extended past the media s natural duration Causes sound or movie media to continue to play even if the timeline is paused This is particularly useful in speaker support or conference situations where you may be cueing the timeline manually While waiting at a pause cue you may still want to have some background music or a video clip playing HINT The Free Running and Loop behaviors be combined to create continuous playback of sound and or video of undetermined duration Controls the maximum Stage window preview quality Set to Reduced to preview the image using its thumbnail Set to None to suppress preview alto gether When set to anything but Best Quality the name of the cue is shown in italics to indicate this NOTE The Stage window preview quality is ultimately determined by the Preview Options setting on the Stage menu see Preview Options on page 117 The cue setting specifies the maximum quality by which the cue will be previewed Chapter9 Cues 143 Anchor Position Scaling and rotating an image around its anchor point 144 Determines the position of the image anchor relative to the upper left corner of the image The anchor of a selected cue is displayed as a crossed circle in the Stage window When scaling or ro
89. g Memory access Fast write protocol C 4x transfer rate 8x transfer mode Bus master v Diagnostic report Read only Diagnostic report generated on 10 19 2005 PowerStrip build 534 Windows build v 5 1 2600 2 Service Pack 2 Powerstriog PowerStrip is shareware and is available from htto www entechtaiwan net Appendix B Computer Issues Motherboard Chip Set Updates Display Refresh Rate Settings Female VGA style connector If some of these features aren t available and you believe your system should support them you should contact your computer vendor to see if there s any motherboard software update available to activate those features for instance Intel chip set update or VIA chip set update Sometimes the application of such an update may result in a dramatic boost in speed For optimal results it is important that the display refresh rate of your computer is set at an even multiple of the frame rate used WATCHOUT see Display Framerate on page 108 Certain display card driver software and display combinations may restrict the choices available to you in Windows In some cases you may not have any choice at all This typically happens if the display projector connected to the computer tells the display card that it prefers one particular frequency Some utility programs may allow you to set other refresh rates than the ones prov
90. g with the name of a folder located in the same folder as your presentation Find Replace Replace with Replacement text S One at a Time All at Once Case Sensitive Find in Current Selection Only As an example assume that the media files were stored in a folder named WATCHOUT Production1 Media on a network volume named E during Finds replaces one at a time or all at once Searches currently selected items only Chapter 7 Commands A leading character indicates an absolute path Check to replace Choose All at Once to change all matching items or One Time to review each change before proceeding Finding Cues Using QuickFind Find Replace Again production You have now copied these files into a folder named Media located in the same folder as the WATCHOUT presentation file You would then enter the following values into the Find Replace dialog box to update all relevant media paths accordingly Find Replace E WATCHOUT Production1 Media Replace with Media One at a Time All at Once Case Sensitive C Find in Current Selection Only No leading character indicates a folder relative to the folder containing the presentation file Cancel The Find command can also be used in the Timeline window In this case it allows you to search for Control cues by
91. gh some image editing applications use this term for other functions Transparency can be used to create non square images holes inside images or semi transparent areas such as drop shadows Photoshop PNG TIFF and Targa file are examples of file formats that support transparency 9 Image with a transparent back Result when composited in ground and a semi transparent WATCHOUT shadow CAUTION Even if an application supports writing to a particular file format it may not support transparency in that format Perform tests with images to determine the suitability of particular formats and applications WATCHOUT supports most methods used for encoding transparency into images Which method to use is usually determined automatically If not you can specify this manually by opening the Specifications dialog box for the image and choosing the desired encoding see Transparency on page 122 Chapter 3 Media 49 TEXT Creating text using Adobe Photoshop Applying Layer Effects such as glow and drop shadow 50 Text like other images must be created using other applications such as Adobe Photoshop In addition to text editing functions such as multiple fonts kerning etc Photoshop also supports numerous effects that can be applied to the text with the text remaining fully editable FancyText psd 100 Fancy Layer Style Styles Blending Options Default Drop Shadow L Inner Shadow
92. ging Displays This chapter goes through the steps required to produce a presentation using WATCHOUT It assumes that you have already produced the source media files as described in the previous chapter The Stage window allows you to arrange the display areas and provides a preview of your presentation Portions of images that appear inside a display will be shown by that physical display By arranging displays side by side or vertically you can make images span multiple displays To add a display to the Stage window choose Add Display on the Stage menu This menu item provides a choice of standard display sizes Once a display has been added set its IP address and other settings through its Speci fications dialog box see Display Specifications on page 134 To remove a display select the display by clicking it with the mouse so it shows a bold outline then choose Clear on the Edit menu NOTE If Online is selected on the Stage menu you can not add or manip ulate any displays Displays may overlap each other When they do images that span multiple displays will be automatically blended at the edges Alternatively displays can be positioned edge to edge or with a small gap between them for a videowall look By positioning the displays in the Stage window according to the actual arrangement and separation of the monitors or image areas images that span Chapter 4 Production 63 Non overlapping displays for exampl
93. h service Do not disable any services by unchecking them in the Services tab of the System Configuration Utility Instead choose Start gt Programs gt Administra tive Tools gt Services ox File Action View Help mim 25810 mn Services Local Local Plug and Play Name Sta 7 Startup Type 4 Sa Network Connections Started Manual Description Network Location Awareness NLA Started Manual Enables a computer to recognize and adapt to hardware changes with little or Started Automatic no user input Stopping or disabling this Sa Remote Procedure Call RPC Started Automatic service will result in system instability Sio System Event Notification Started Manual Sy Windows Audio Started Automatic 5 Extended This list provides detailed information on each service Select a service in the list for a description The list contains numerous services of which most are not needed on a computer dedicated to running WATCHOUT display software Not all services listed are running only those listed as Started To disable a service double click it and set its Startup Type to Disabled Appendix Computer Issues 161 Defragmenting the Disk 162 For more information on what the various services do and which ones you may disable or set to Manual visit this web site http www techspot com tweaks winxp_services print shtml After using WATCHOUT
94. h the Standby command see Standby on page 119 Chapter 9 Cues Using Find and QuickFind Named Control cues can be used with the Find command to locate position along the timeline by name A QuickFind feature allows you to instantly jump to one of several positions using the function keys on your computer s keyboard To use this feature simply name the Control cues F1 F2 etc as in the example on the previous page IMPORTANT The Control cue s name field is case sensitive When using function key names type an upper case F Chapter 9 Cues 151 152 Chapter9 Cues A SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS COMPUTER NOTE These are minimum system requirements Faster processor faster memory faster hard disk with cache memory faster graphics card with more video memory etc will result in significantly increased performance in many applications Some functions for example live video integration require additional hardware LIVE VIDEO INPUT This appendix lists what you need in order to install WATCHOUT on a PC A WATCHOUT computer has the following minimum system requirements Intel Pentium 4 at 1 5 GHz or equivalent AMD processor USB port Wake on LAN 512 MB of RAM AGP AX or PCI Express 16X video card slot IDE or SATA hard disk interface supporting DMA transfers 60 GB hard disk fully utilizing the above hard disk interface 100 MBit Ethernet card supporting Wake on LAN
95. ided by the standard Windows Display control panel One such program is PowerStrip shown on the previous page Another option is to prevent the display projector from telling the display card about its capabilities and thereby limiting the range of allowable settings This can be done by disconnecting pin 12 the DDC signal in the standard analog 15 pin VGA style cable used to connect most displays Use a VGA male to female extension cable and disconnect or remove pin 12 in either end of the cable CAUTION Changing the refresh rate or other timing parameters to values outside the allowable range may cause damage to certain display types primarily CRT based displays Please check the documentation of the display for details Appendix B Computer Issues 165 Display Card Drivers DirectX 166 Due to the fast pace of development in the area of computer graphics the driver software included with your computer or graphics card may be old by the time you receive it Check the computer or graphics card vendor s web site for updates http www ati com support driver html http www nvidia com content drivers drivers asp Make sure you follow the recommended procedure for installing upgrading the display card driver This is often covered in a ReadMe file included with the driver Some display cards and or drivers require or perform better with certain versions of Microsoft s DirectX system software WATCHOUT is compa
96. iginal material such as in dividual computer generated image files Save the resulting files into a separate folder Give each file the name of the WATCHOUT display on which it will appear Select Pre split for Multiple Displays and link the Video Proxy to the folder see Add Proxy on page 120 Chapter3 Media 57 Crop the resulting movie as required on each side 58 This is how you would split a movie using Adobe After Effects Output Module Settings Based on Lossless Fema Widows asa Embed None 24 Post Render Action None 2 Video Outpu Format Options Starting 6 V Use Comp Frame Number pa Title Channels RGB Audio 40 Kbps Depth Millions of Colors Video 175 Kbps Color Premultiplied Matted xs 1 Stretch Width Height Rendering at 1200 x 480 Stretch to x lt Custom 4 Stretch 96 x Stretch Quality High 24 Vi Lock Aspect Ratio to 5 2 C Use Region of Interest Final Size 720 x 480 Top 0 Left 0 Bottom 0 Right 480 L Audio Output Format Options 44 100 kHz 3 1681 274 Stereo Chapter 3 Media AUDIO Audio File Formats Multi Channel Audio Audio is used WATCHOUT in a way that s very similar to moving images Simply bring the sound file into WATCHOUT and place its icon on the display in the Stage window where you want to the sound file to
97. image If you don t go to the tween point first a new tween point may be added instead Chapter 6 Windows 89 TIMELINE WINDOW Current time position and indicator Currently selected layer Collapsed layer Layer attributes Disabled layer preview Play button Using the Scroll Wheel Adjusting the Time Scale 90 The Timeline window holds the cues that make up your presentation Cues are arranged along layers representing the back to front stacking order of images on stage Increasing layer numbers move the image closer to the front m Timeline 400 135 Jump button Time ruler Layer Tween pane Time scale buttons By default the scroll wheel on the mouse scrolls windows vertically The scroll wheel can be combined with the following modifier keys in the Timeline window Shift Scrolls the timeline horizontally Control Moves the current time position in 0 1 second increments Control Shift Moves the current time position in 1 second increments Click the magnifying glass buttons to zoom in and out by a fixed amount Pressing the and keys on the numeric keypad has the same effect Drag Chapter 6 Windows Setting the Current Time Position Time Position Indicator The Jump Button Starting and Stopping Adding Cues Selecting the Current Layer the button to the right of the magnifying glass buttons to change the scale gradually Click the tim
98. imeline Settings command 131 transparency pre multiplied straight 122 transparency see opacity triangle in layer header 90 tween menu 132 tween point 74 copying 74 corner 74 editing numerically 75 removing 74 smooth 74 208 tween track 12 73 145 adding points to 74 opacity 76 position 78 rotation 77 scale 76 stretching 74 volume 76 U Undo command 112 Update command 119 USB port 32 v velocity 79 VGA connector 165 172 Video as Thumbnails command 117 video distribution amplifier 35 video see movie VNC 123 volume 76 volume tweening 146 Ww warping 136 Index WATCHOUT installing 31 obtaining 31 screenshot 13 system overview 8 Index window media 94 message 97 overview 87 stage 89 timeline 90 Windows Media 9 51 Windows XP 38 163 Wireframes command 117 WM file format 51 209
99. ing the Media File Refreshing Media Information Grouping Media Items into Folders Adding a Media Proxy 96 To open a media file in its associated application double click its thumbnail This provides convenient access to a media file in order to view or edit it NOTE Your computer must have been set up properly in order to associate each file type with the appropriate application After editing media files update the Media list in WATCHOUT accordingly by choosing Refresh on the Media menu See Refresh on page 129 for more details Media items can be arranged into groups Chose New Folder on the Media menu to create a folder then drag the desired media items onto the folder Double click the folder s name to change it Click the triangle to show or hide the content of the folder NOTE Folders in the media window have no relation to folders on your computer s hard disk They are merely a way to organize items in the Media window Creating or removing folders from the Media window will not create or remove any folders on your hard disk In some cases media files can not simply be dragged into the Media list see page 67 for some examples Instead you can add a proxy item to the Media window using the Add Proxy command on the Media menu See Add Proxy on page 120 for more details Chapter 6 Windows MESSAGE WINDOW An error message from a media list item telling you that it
100. ings Use the settings below to change individual speaker volume and other settings Apply Chapter 2 Installation 45 46 Chapter 2 Installation 3 MEDIA Various kinds of media in the WATCHOUT Media window WATCHOUT is a compositing tool it does not include any media creation or editing functions All media to be used in your presentation must be supplied and edited using other means This chapter provides an overview of the media and file formats supported by WATCHOUT as well as examples of popular applications used to create or edit such media files IMPORTANT Keep a show s media files in a folder that is located the same folder as the WATCHOUT show file or in a sub folder This allows the software to use relative file access paths making it easier to move the show to another disk or computer Name Thumbnail ES Sound Video gt Panoramas Folder 4 items WOLogoBig psd ILO Image 1881 Chapter 3 47 STILL IMAGES Supported Formats 48 Still images used as backgrounds or superimposed other images You can control the degree of transparency scaling mirroring and rotation for all images stills as well as moving images WATCHOUT reads most popular image formats including BMP GIF JPEG Photoshop PICT PNG Targa and TIFF Preferably use an image format native to the application used to create edit the images For example if you
101. ion of cues in the Timeline window you can also set most parameters numerically using the Cue Specifications dialog box Select the cue and choose Specifications on the Edit menu or simply double click the cue See Cue Specifications on page 141 for more details Chapter 4 Production 71 Using Control Cues A Control cue added to the timeline 72 In addition to media cues you can also add control cues to the timeline by choosing Add Control Cue on the Timeline menu When reached during playback a Control cue set to Pause causes the timeline to stop This is useful when cueing a presentation manually WATCHMAKER Production SAX Fie Edit Stage Timeline Add Control Cue Ctrl P 5 Add Layer Insert Layer Delete Layer Layer Settings v Click Jumps to Time Ctrl T Timeline Settings Ctrl J NOTE If you want a Control cue to coincide with the start of another cue then put the Control cue on a separate layer If you don t do this the Control cue may be hidden behind the other cue You may want to dedicate a layer for control cues only Control cues provide many other functions for managing the flow of your presentation This is often useful for speaker support or other similar situations where live elements of unpredictable duration are involved For more details see Looping and Jumping on page 83 and Cont
102. ions See Production PC Protocol on page 181 This control feature is not to be confused with the display cluster control capa bility described in Appendix E Display Cluster Protocol While they both perform similar functions one controls the production computer and the other controls the display computers directly without the need for any production computer being present during playback When you open a presentation that was saved with this option selected the production software will automatically connect to the display computers Conversely if this option wasn t selected when the presentation was saved you must manually choose the Online command on the Stage menu in order to control the display computers Chapter 7 Commands Edge Blend Curve General Edge Blend Conditions Video In Soft Edge Blend Curve Note Left side of curve is outer part of edge blend No Edge Blend Past Layer Number No Edge blend Past Layer Drag the round dot to adjust the curve of the edge blend Although it is possible to add more points to the curve this is generally not required The same curve is applied to all edges The left of the curve corresponds to the outer dark edge of the gradient IMPORTANT Before attempting to adjust the edge blend WATCHOUT make sure that the projector is adjusted properly as described beginning on page 176 Double click a point to view and edit its value numerically or t
103. iption lt string gt The information message as a quoted string lt string gt Address of originator empty or omitted if originating from the master Reply A Reply feedback message is sent as a direct response to a query command for instance getStatus described on page 193 Use a command ID to posi tively associate the reply with the command The format of the reply parameter s depends on the command that caused the reply to be sent Quit Sent when the application is about to quit either due to a keyboard or other COMMAND ID TAGGING command This message has no parameters Commands may optionally be preceded by a command ID This is any sequence of characters enclosed in square brackets When used at least one explicit reply is always sent for each command The reply is then also tagged with the same ID 23 ping 23 Ready 2 0 WATCHPOINT Windows true Use this feature if you want positive confirmation of commands or to explicitly associate a feedback message with a command Appendix E Display Cluster Protocol 201 202 Appendix E Display Cluster Protocol INDEX A acceleration 79 adding a control cue 130 adding a display 116 adding a media proxy 120 Adobe After Effects 53 alpha channel 49 54 122 anchor point 77 anchor point in images 108 anti aliasing 51 audio see sound Autodesk Cleaner 53 AVI 51 B Background Color command 116 base framerate 107 batch file 185 Best Quality comm
104. isplay card in the display computer Avoid mixing brands and models of displays on adjacent or overlapping areas since they most likely will differ in their image reproduction As the light intensity and color temperature of many projectors may degrade over time try to use projectors that have been in use roughly the same number of hours The following sections provide an overview of display technologies with special emphasis on aspects related to WATCHOUT CRT projectors have the unique advantage of being able to reproduce a true black This is important in a totally dark environment such as a planetarium when using the smooth edge blending built into WATCHOUT Without a true black level it is often impossible to avoid gray banding of the screen in the overlap areas CRT monitors and CRT based video projectors and wall cubes may however need extensive adjustment and calibration by a professional installer in order to obtain acceptable color matching convergence and image uniformity Their analog nature may also affect long term stability Appendix C Display Issues 169 DLP Projectors DLP TEXAS INSTRUMENTS TECHNOLOGY 170 DLP Digital Light Processor uses a microscopic mirror chip to modulate the light see http www dlp com This display technology has the advantage of being 100 digital resulting in excellent long term image stability and reli ability particularly when using a digital computer connec
105. isplay computer a progress bar will be shown in that display in the Stage window as well as on the display computer itself You may continue working in WATCHOUT while files are being transferred but you will not be able to further update or access the display until the previous update has completed HINT You can stop an update in progress by deselecting Online on the Stage menu The transfer will stop once the current file has been transferred Note that all media files transferred to the display computer will remain there until removed manually The media related to a show is stored in a folder with the name of the show This is located in a Shows folder in the same folder as the WATCHOUT display software application After using a display computer to run a show you may want to clean up the Shows folder by putting its contents into the trash and emptying the trash before using that computer to run another show This stops old shows from occupying hard disk space unnecessarily NOTE If you for any reason remove the Cache folder then remember to remove the CachedFiles file as well This file is used to keep track of what s in the Cache folder If you experience problems displaying certain images you may try removing the Cache folder and the CachedFiles file WATCHOUT will re create this file the next time you open the show Presentation Chapter 5 Updating the Stage RUNNING THE PRESENTATION Manual
106. ject from the Media list onto the Stage and program it using cues as any other image element A remote computer supports the same capabilities as other images For instance you can program its position scale and opacity Since the images are sent across the network to all display computers you can show the computer display across multiple display computers In the Remote Computer dialog box type the IP number of the remote computer into the Address field and the VNC password into the Password field Set Dimensions to the size of the display of the VNC server reducing the resolution of the Remote Computer may improve performance The Screen field is rarely used and should generally be set to zero It may be used with some implementations of VNC server software which support multiple screens or work spaces Set Stage Preview to Live if you want to preview the Remote Computer in the Stage window of the production software Otherwise set this to Thumb nail This setting affects the Stage window preview only not what s shown by the display computers NOTE The Remote Computer does not require a WATCHOUT license key Chapter 7 Commands Add Live Video Associate a video input device number with your video input s Video inputs available on the display computer appear here This feature allows you to display live video such as a camera feed as part of your WATCHOUT presentation The live video feed
107. lay device that s compatible with the display card in the display computer For projection purposes DLP projectors with a high contrast ratio 2000 1 or better is recommended See Display Issues on page 169 for further details on various kinds of displays and how to connect them to WATCHOUT As in all multi screen projection applications it is important to choose the screen material with caution Make sure you buy your screen material from a screen manufacturer familiar with the requirements of multi image projection or similar applications For front projection avoid using high gain or silver screens Such screens often cause uneven brightness or banding when using multiple projectors and or when viewing from non optimal angles See Banding on page 175 A related problem when using rear projection screens is the hot spot caused by the projection lens showing through the projection surface See Rear Projection on page 176 Chapter 2 Installation 33 SOUND Sound output jack symbols Using Multiple Sound Channels LIVE VIDEO INPUT Feeding Multiple Display Computers 34 Sound can be provided through any of the display computers Simply connect the sound output from the computer usually a 3 5 mm mini jack to the ampli fier or powered speakers If you need to run the computer s line level audio signal a long distance you should use an audio line level transforme
108. le in the Stage window it may be obscured by a large image appearing in front of it You can hide the large image by clicking the yellow sun icon in its layer title area see Disabling Layer Preview on page 92 IMPORTANT Make sure that the Timeline window is selected before moving the image in the Stage window Chapter 4 Production 69 Layering Media Click triangle to expand the layer to see the entire cue Drag to move the partition between the cue pane and the tween pane Drag to resize the tween track Changing the Media Association of a Cue 70 The horizontal layers in the Timeline window allow you to control the stacking order of images in the Stage window To move an image towards the front drag its cue downwards to a layer with a higher number To move the cue without changing its time position press the Shift key while dragging Use the commands on the Timeline menu to add or remove layers 2 20 2 30 7 BevelEye psd You can change the media association of a cue by dragging new media onto the cue This changes the media association of that cue only while retaining all other relevant properties HINT This can be used to duplicate a complex move or other effect using different media First make a copy of the cue to re use then replace its media association as described above Chapter 4 Production Changing a Cue s Duration Aligning Cues in Time Cue Specifications
109. led Conditional Layers These three menu items control to what extent images originating from conditional layers appear in the Stage window See Condition on page 93 and Enabled Layer Conditions on page 110 for more information on conditional layers Generally you want images originating from enabled layers only to appear in the Stage window which is accomplished by choosing Enabled Conditional Layers To preview images from all conditional layers regardless of whether or not they are enabled in the Preferences dialog box select All Conditional Layers Connects the production computer to the display computers Once connected the display computers will follow you as you jump around on the timeline and start stop the presentation NOTE Choosing Online also locks all displays in the Stage window You must deselect Online in order to make any changes in the Stage window A stop sign inside a display in the Stage window indicates failed connection to that display computer see Connecting to the Display Computers on page 81 Other errors are reported in the Message window Chapter 7 Commands Update Standby Updates all connected display computers with any changes you ve made to the presentation including transferring new or modified media files to the display computers Causes all display computers to fade to black or to the image of any standby layer see Perform Normal In Standby on page 92
110. ll unused items in the Media window that is media items not used by any cue After reviewing the selection you can choose Clear on the Edit menu to remove the unused media items NOTE Doing so cleans up the Media window only It does not remove the corresponding media files from your computer Chapter 7 Commands 129 TIMELINE MENU Add Control Cue Adding and Removing Layers Layer Settings Click Jumps to Time Snap to Current Time 130 The Timeline menu applies specifically to the contents of the Timeline window and is only available when the Timeline window is selected Adds a Control cue at the current time and selected layer When reached during playback the cue will perform its programmed action See Control Cue on page 150 for full details HINT When using Control cues dedicate a layer rather than mixing them with other cues This makes them easier to find and prevents them from getting obscured by other cues Choose Add Layer to append a layer to the timeline or choose Insert Layer to insert a layer above the currently selected layer Choose Delete Layer to delete the current layer A layer containing cues can not be deleted Opens a dialog box that allows you to rename the layer as well as set various layer attributes See Layer Name and Attributes on page 92 for more details Deselect this option to keep the time position stationary while manipulating cues
111. mp to other sections of the presentation These features can also be accessed remotely using a TOUCHDOWN control panel See the GUIDEMAKER Handbook for more details Chapter 5 Presentation 83 Touch panel or Computer Control Personalized or Multi lingual Audio 9 Y 84 You can use Dataton TOUCHDOWN or an ordinary computer to remotely control your WATCHOUT presentation as well as the presentation environ ment See the GUIDEMAKER Handbook for details http www dataton com touchdown For museums visitor centers and similar places where personalized or multi lingual audio is desired you can use WATCHOUT together with Dataton PICKUP PICKUP plays the audio of the presentation and acts as a remote control for starting the presentation http www dataton com pickup To integrate PICKUP with your WATCHOUT display clusters use the Dataton NETWORK TRANSPONDER which connects to your Ethernet network In addition to acting as an IR transponder for PICKUP it also controls your WATCHOUT presentations It provides advanced features such as synchro nized audio playback It can also match the language selection between PICKUP and WATCHOUT by means of controlling the conditional layers in WATCHOUT see Condition on page 93 Chapter 5 Presentation EXTERNAL CONTROL Activates external control through the network port on the produc tion computer For more complex applications y
112. n each cue Video as Thumbnails Uses low resolution thumbnails as video preview Speeds up editing of presentations with numerous large video clips playing at the same time Best Quality Renders high quality preview of all cues except those explicitly set to Stage Preview Reduced page 143 Masked by Displays Masks images to the areas inside the displays This provides a more accurate representation of what is actually shown by the display computers However it also makes it harder to edit the presentation since images positioned outside the displays disappear Outline Dimmed Images When an image is dimmed using an opacity tween track it may become hard to see and manipulate in the Stage window Selecting this option causes a thin frame to be displayed around such images making them easier to see Chapter 7 Commands 117 Online 118 Preview Standby Layers When activated the Stage window will show the same images as the display computers while in standby mode that is any images from standby layers see Perform Normal In Standby page 92 This allows you to edit such images through the Stage window However in most cases you probably prefer to see the normal images in the Stage window even while in standby mode in order to preview and possibly edit those while the display computers show the standby images This can be accomplished by un checking the Preview Standby Layers menu item No All Enab
113. name or media cues by the name of their associated media The latter is useful in finding cues using a particular media item The timeline is first searched in the forward direction from the current time position If not found it is then searched backwards The QuickFind feature allows you to jump straight to a Control cue by pressing a single function key on the keyboard Simply name the cues F1 F2 F3 etc and then press the corresponding function key See Using Find and Quick Find on page 151 for more details Repeats the most recent Find Replace command Chapter 7 Commands 115 STAGE MENU Add Display Preview Scale Background Color Click Selects Frontmost Image 116 The Stage menu applies specifically to the contents of the Stage window Adds a new display of the specified size to the Stage window After adding a display open its specifications dialog box to enter its specifications see Display Specifications on page 134 IMPORTANT Displays can not be added while Online is selected on the Stage menu The secondary menu provides some common display sizes as shortcuts You can however enter any size in the display s dialog box as long as it is supported by the physical display and the interface card in the display computer Determines the viewing scale of the Stage window A larger preview gives you greater precision in positioning displays and images using the mouse Allows you
114. nect using NVIDIA nForce MCP Networking Con This connection uses the following items E Client for Microsoft Networks L1 File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks 15005 Packet Scheduler Description Transmission Control Protocol Internet Protocol The default wide area network protocol that provides communication across diverse interconnected networks C Show icon in notification area when connected C Notify me when this connection has limited or no connectivity Chapter 2 Installation 39 Choose Internet Protocol TCP IP and click Properties Enter the numbers as shown below Internet Protocol TCP IP Properties 2 General You can get IP settings assigned automatically if your network supports this capability Otherwise you need to ask your network administrator for the appropriate settings Obtain an IP address automatically 4 NOTE The example shown is Use the following IP address appropriate if you re building a IP address 188 0 1 stand alone system If your WATCHOUT subnet is connected LOI 2 toa larger network you should Default gateway consult your network adminis trator for the correct IP number Obtain DNS server address automatically and subnet mask Use the following DNS server addresses Preferred DNS server Alternate DNS server 40
115. ng the path of motion into or out form that point Close the dialog box and drag the yellow handle in the desired direction to create a curve In the illustration below smooth points have been set to move the image along an S shaped curve E Timeline TUS 2 10 Scissors EL gt Position Y Rotation Direction handles Dragging the direction handle farther away from the point increases the curva ture Add tween points for better control over the path s shape HINT You can use a Rotation tween track to rotate the object accordingly as it moves along the motion path as shown in the example above 80 Chapter 4 Production PRESENTATION CONNECTING TO THE DISPLAY COMPUTERS m Stage Error icon indicates a problem connecting to the display computer Quitting the Display Software This chapter tells you how to take your WATCHOUT presentation from your production computer onto the display computers and run the presentation It discusses the various ways in which your presentation can be used and controlled After installing and configuring the production and display computers producing the presentation and starting the display software on each display computer you can select Online on the Stage menu This causes the produc tion computer to connect to the display computers and transfer all required information to them ready for playback Failure to connect to a dis
116. ng the license keys either to the production computer or to any online display computer then click Scan License Keys Licenses can be removed from the list by selecting them and choosing Clear on the Edit menu Chapter 6 Windows 99 Upgrading your Licenses 100 Obtaining the Information Ordering the Upgrade When a major new version of WATCHOUT is introduced old license keys must be upgraded in order to use that version This section outlines the procedure used to upgrade license keys NOTE Only major version changes require license key upgrades Minor changes for example from version 3 0 to version 3 1 do not require an upgrade Start by making sure that all the licenses you want to upgrade are listed in the License window If not follow the procedure outlined on the preceding pages for adding your licenses to the list IMPORTANT An upgrade applies only to a license key with that specific li cense number Make sure the licenses listed match those to be upgraded Once all licenses to upgrade appear in the list click Copy All as Text to copy the license information to the clipboard Alternatively manually select the licenses to be upgraded then choose Copy on the Edit menu You can order your license upgrades either from your Dataton reseller or directly from the Dataton web shop To order your upgrade through your Dataton reseller send an e mail to the reseller including your ordering infor mation as
117. nitial part in this field you then only have to enter the last few digits into the specifications dialog box of each individual display see Address on page 134 Default anchor posi tion for new image cues IMPORTANT You must enter the period that separates the last two groups of digits here The complete IP address is made by simply concatenating the contents of the Display Address Prefix field with the contents of the dis play s Address field Chapter 7 Commands 107 108 Display Framerate Standby Rates Center Anchor Automatically External Control Go Online Automatically Specifies the frame rate used by the display computers This setting lets WATCHOUT optimize its behavior to match the frame rate of any video being used in the presentation as well as the display devices Your display computers should use a matching refresh rate see page 43 for more information Specifies the fade out and fade in rates for the standby command page 119 If checked the anchor point will be aligned with the center of the image when you drag an image to the timeline or stage window See Anchor Position on page 144 Activates external control of the WATCHOUT production software This allows you to control your WATCHOUT presentation from TOUCHDOWN or other computers and control systems The control protocols has provisions for positioning starting and stopping the presentation as well as other miscella neous funct
118. o first update the show itself see GUIDEMAKER Handbook for details IMPORTANT When using this feature media files must maintain their orig inal size If required you can plan ahead by making the original larger than necessary to accommodate future changes Enter the duration of the media here Applies to moving images video and sound only Allows you to choose a thumbnail image to represent the proxy in the Media window inside cues and in the Stage window preview If not specified a default icon will be displayed Specifies the size of the image Applies to still and moving images Allows you to specify whether the image contains transparent areas as well as the form of transparency used Normally WATCHOUT determines this from the information in the media file but when using a proxy you must specify this Chapter 7 Commands Add Remote Computer manually Setting this incorrectly may cause the image to display without trans parency or not at all Applies to still and moving images The types of transparency supported by WATCHOUT includes None The image or video has no alpha channel Straight Alpha The transparency information affects the alpha channel of the image only Pre multiplied with White The transparency affects both the alpha channel and the pixels in the image so that the pixels in fully transparent areas are white This is often used in material produced for printing purposes
119. o change its type This also allows you to precisely copy the edge blend curve from one presentation to another HINT For better precision in adjusting the curve enlarge the window To see the result of your changes click OK then choose Update on the Stage menu Turns off edge blending for images placed past the specified layer in the time line This is indicated by a red divider line below that layer in the Timeline window This is useful in cases where you may want images to appear unaffected by the edge blend gradient such as a line up image used to align projectors to the screen In this case you want fo see the entire alignment image all the way to its edges to make sure that the image precisely covers the display area Another use for this feature is when playing a video that fits entirely within the confines of a single display but which may extend into the edge blended zones While WATCHOUT is capable of handling this correctly by playing the video in all intersecting display computers this may impair performance particularly if you want to play other videos simultaneously on adjacent display areas Chapter 7 Commands 109 Enabled Layer Conditions General Edge Blend Conditions video In Enabled Layer Conditions v Ou 16 O21 112 17 022 18 123 114 19 124 o 110 ov Oo o 015
120. oftware which contains its own timecode reader Chapter 5 Presentation Stage Window showing the display areas and a preview of the presentation Media Window listing all media used in your presentation Timeline Window showing the layers cues and tween tracks Message Window showing messages and errors 6 WINDOWS WATCHMAKER Show File Edit Stage Timeline Tween Name Type Thumbnail ArmCycle mov Image video Eldhimmel tga Panoramas droppar tga 2 5 4 Image JOE 0 15 0 20 0 30 Chapter 6 Windows 87 Manipulating Windows Minimize maximize and close the WATCHOUT desktop Menu bar Minimize and maximize Drag border or corner to resize Minimized windows Click to restore 88 All WATCHOUT windows reside inside a desktop window with a menu bar running along its top You can resize the desktop window by dragging any of its outer borders or corners Minimize or maximize it using the buttons in the upper right corner Clicking the close box is equivalent to choosing Quit on the File menu Move a WATCHOUT window by dragging its title bar Resize a window by dragging any of its corners or outer borders Minimize and maximize a window using the buttons in the upper right corner Windows can not be closed only minimized into small tabs along the bottom of the desktop window File Edit Stage Timeline Tween Cha
121. omes standard on most computers Although 100 MBit Ethernet is recommended Gigabit and 10 MBit can also be used Wireless networks are generally not recommended Connect all computers to a hub with the required number of ports Most hubs have indicators that identify proper connection Display m Computers Production Computer Ethernet hub or switch For stand alone operation of a WATCHOUT system this is usually all you need to do in terms of hardware hook up Each computer in the system requires a WATCHOUT license key including the production computer Plug the key into any free USB Universal Serial Bus port on the computer NOTE You can run the production software off line without a license key connected A key is only needed when you go on line to communicate with the display computers Chapter 2 Installation Upgrading License Keys DISPLAY DEVICES PROJECTION SCREEN When a major revision of WATCHOUT is released for example going from version 2 x to version 3 x old license keys must be upgraded in order to be used with that new software version An upgrade can be purchased and deliv ered electronically via the Internet See Upgrading your Licenses on page 100 for more details WATCHOUT can be used with most display technologies including CRT DLP and LCD projectors LCD and CRT monitors video wall cubes and plasma screens Generally speaking you can use any disp
122. omputer generated material Supports transparency when set to Millions of colors DV High quality Medium compression Optimized for video editing Gener ated directly by most digital video camcorders Native frame size is fixed based on video format s frame size For best performance use the AVI file format for DV content to be used with WATCHOUT Windows Media 9 High quality Flexible in terms of frame size useful for making tall or narrow movies frame rate and interlacing progressive options Very demanding on processor speed when using high resolutions at full frame rate Choosing the right codec and codec settings for your source material and play back hardware may require some experimentation Although WATCHOUT supports most video file formats some formats tend to give better results As a general guideline use MPEG 2 or Windows Media 9 unless an alpha channel is required in which case QuickTime Animation is the recommended codec WM requires more processor power but provides greater flexibility in terms of supported frame sizes Chapter3 Media 55 Pre splitting Large Movies 56 Modern computers are generally capable of playing at least one high defini tion movies Some very fast computers may even be able to play several high definition movies at the same time Hence as long as what you need to play fits within the realm of what your computer is capable of playing you should generally choose either the MP
123. on file in the consolidated folder When using Move the old presentation file is not affected When you give this command first choose an empty folder for your consoli dated presentation You re then presented with the dialog box shown below allowing you to choose whether to copy or move the media files Consolidate Media Files 3 all media Files used in the presentation Uses more disk space but leaves the original intact Move media files if possible if not copy the File The consolidated presentation will then be opened Cancel Chapter 7 Commands 105 License Key Manager Quit 106 Copy Creates a new copy of your presentation leaving the current media files and the presentation file as they are This is the safest option but may require a significant amount of time and disk space since it entails making new copies of every media file actively used in the presentation NOTE Only media actively used in the presentation is copied Unused media items are removed from the Media window in the consolidated version of the show Unused media files are left in their old locations and are not copied or moved Move Moves all media files that reside on the same volume as the target folder instead of copying them This is much faster and requires no additional disk space for files already located on the target volume Media files residing on other disks partitions or servers will be
124. on the primary display computer s hard disk to auto matically perform most commands in this protocol when starting the display software This can for example be used to set up a system that automatically loads and runs a show every time the computer is switched on The command file can be created using a text editor or word processor capable of saving as plain text To perform those commands when starting the WATCHOUT display software you provide the name of this command file as a command line parameter to the display software If started using a shortcut Appendix E Display Cluster Protocol 185 possibly located in the Startup folder add the name of the command file to the Target field of the shortcut WATCHOUT Display Properties General Shortcut Compatibility v WATCHDUT Display Enter the name of the command file here This example assumes Target type Application that the file is stored in the folder where WATCHOUT is installed Target location WATCHDUT 3 N Target on wWATCHOUT 3 wATCHPOINT EXE Cmd t l Make sure this is set to the folder where WATCHOUT is installed 5 AN Start in C Program Files Dataton wWATCHOUT 3 Shortcut key None Run Normal window Comment The example below shows the content of a command file that displays a message on the WATCHOUT screen waits a few seconds loads a show waits 186 Appendix E Display Cluster Protocol N
125. only do you lower the burden on the playback machine but you also reduce rendering times Keep in mind that you can make non square movies or even holes inside movies by using transparency options in supporting applications and codecs As computer generated movies are by nature resolution independent it is also possible to make movies that are much larger than a single display area Very large movies may need to be pre split in order to be used in WATCHOUT see Pre splitting Large Movies on page 56 depending on the performance of the display computers Chapter 3 Assembling Individual Frames Arm mov Some applications most notably 3D animation software often save the resulting frames as individual image files This may also be the case when scanning images frame by frame from film Such a sequence of images must be converted into a QuickTime movie with the appropriate frame rate before it can be incorporated into WATCHOUT This can be done using for example Adobe After Effects The individual images must be saved as files all ending in a frame number This number precedes the file name extension for example File001 tga File002 tga File003 tga etc Assembling using Adobe After Effects To assemble a movie from still images using Adobe After Effects choose Import Footage File on the File menu select the first file in the sequence and select the lt Format gt Sequence checkbox
126. or example http www gefen com Just like the display computer the kind of display or projector used has a major influence on the end result This section provides additional guidance on deter mining the cause and possible remedy of display related problems Connect a regular CRT monitor to the output of your display computer to deter mine if the problem is introduced by the display technology or by the display computer This is a good advice whenever you see unwanted phenomena in the displayed image always plug in a CRT monitor If the problem goes away it s most likely caused by your display or projector in which case you should read this appendix If the problem shows up on the CRT monitor as well you should instead focus on the display computer see Computer Issues on page 155 Appendix C Display Issues 173 JERKY MOVEMENTS 174 An image moved using a Position track should move smoothly across the displays Jerky movement may be caused by either the display computer or the display device itself If the problem goes away when you view the output from the display computer on a CRT display you ve determined that the jerkiness is introduced by the display or projector you re using IMPORTANT When making these tests you should preferably use a CRT monitor If possible avoid LCD monitor plasma screen or projector since such devices may introduce artefacts of their own Also you may want to unplug the p
127. osition tween points then drag the image Or use the Move command on the Edit menu The Speed fields control the speed of motion into or out from the point A value of 1 results in the normal speed required to move linearly to the next point Smaller values make the image go slower and greater values go faster The speed is indicated by the white dots along the motion path as shown under Controlling the Speed of Motion on page 79 The Smooth checkboxes allow you to create curved motion paths as shown under Moving Along a Curved Path on page 80 When selected a direction handle appears attached to the point controlling the direction of motion into or out from the point WAELCHOUT Chapter 9 Cues Rotation Rotation Time Position 2 10 857 Point Type Smooth Revolutions 0 Degrees Clockwise 17 Rotates an image around its anchor point see Anchor Position on page 144 You can rotate the image by a specified number of revolutions or degrees or a combination of the two For example to rotate 2 5 times set Revolutions to 2 and Degrees to 180 Alternatively drag the rotation handle in the Stage window or the Rotation tween point in the tween pane NOTE The rotation handle may be hidden underneath the anchor point If so either move the anchor point see Anchor Position on page 144 or drag the Rotation tween point to adjust the angle LL Timeline
128. ou may want to integrate WATCHOUT with other control systems This can be accomplished by means of external control of your WATCHOUT system through the network To control the production computer connect the external controller to the network and activate the TCP IP control port in the Preferences dialog box Preferences General Edge Blend Conditions Video In Display Address Prefix Display Framerate 2 60 fps O75 fps Custom fps Stand By Enter Rate 1 0 seconds Stand By Exit Rate 1 0 seconds When Adding New Cues Center Anchor Position External Control TCP IP When Opening Show Go Online Automatically Network control is based on the TCP IP network protocol and allows WATCHOUT to be controlled from a TOUCHDOWN touch panel or from another computer anywhere on your network see page 181 Chapter 5 Presentation 85 Display Cluster Control TIMECODE CONTROL Dataton WATCHOUT Timecode Reader Signal Strength CTT Sound Mixer Input Line In Format O Auto Detect O Film 24 OSMPTE NDF SMPTE DF EBU 25 O SMPTE 30 Speed Deviation 0 Errors and Warnings Bi phase Mark 0 Duplicate Frame 0 Discontinuity 1 Invalid Frame 0 WATCHOUT Timecode Tester 86 Instead of controlling the WATCHOUT production software as discussed above you may choose to control a cluster of display computers di
129. oving media list items in this way does not affect the files stored on your computer s hard disk HINT Use the Find command in the Timeline window to track down media references by the name of the media item Indicates the location of each media file If the file is located in or under the folder in which the presentation itself is saved the path to the file will be rela tive to this folder Otherwise it will be an absolute path beginning with a character IMPORTANT If possible store media files in a sub folder of the folder con taining the presentation file since this allows the use of relative path names Doing so allows you to move the entire presentation to another folder disk or computer intact Using absolute path names may cause problems if the specified location is not available after moving the presentation HINT If you change you mind concerning file locations you may move the files to a more appropriate location for example to a folder under the folder containing the show file and then use the Find Replace command to update the locations in the Media window accordingly See Find Replace on page 114 You can change the file associated with a particular media list item by double clicking the Description field and choosing another file This will affect all cues associated with this media list item You can only replace a media file with another of the same type Chapter 6 Windows 95 Edit
130. ows you to determine which cue corresponds to a particular image on stage To position selected cues drag them using the mouse To drag cues to another layer without altering their time positions press the Shift key while dragging If you want to position a cue numerically cut it go to the desired time position using the Timeline Settings dialog box page 131 then paste it Alternatively use the cue s dialog box see Cue Specifications on page 141 Press the right or left arrow keys on the keyboard to select the next or previous cue on the currently selected layer Pressing the Shift key as well selects the next or previous cue on any layer Pressing the up and down arrow keys changes the currently selected layer Use Cut Copy and Paste on the Edit menu to move or copy cues within a presentation or to other presentations via the clipboard When transferring cues to other presentations in this way any media associated with those cues will automatically be added to the target presentation To delete cues without altering the content of clipboard select the cues then choose Clear on the Edit menu Cues contain information on where the media will appear on stage To change the stage position drag the preview image in the Stage window You can change the stage position of multiple cues at the same time by first selecting those cues Chapter 9 Cues Changing a Cue s Duration Ball psd Drag either end to
131. pe WATCHOUT Show files watch Open Recent Provides a list of recently opened presentations Choosing an item from the sub menu opens the selected presentation Save Saves the presentation that is currently open Save a Copy As Saves a copy of the presentation that is currently open This is useful for saving backup copies without changing the name of the current presentation NOTE Opening and using such a copy without changing it back to its orig inal name will cause a new set of media to be downloaded to all display computers under the new name 104 Chapter 7 Commands Consolidate To Moves or copies the entire presentation including all actively used media files to a folder You can use this command to consolidate all the relevant files in preparation for burning the presentation onto a CD or DVD This command is also useful if you ve been using media files stored on servers or removable disks or if you have a lot of unused media files intermixed with the files actually used in the presentation that you want to weed out A third application of this command is to prepare a package with all files needed by the Update Show WATCHOUT command in GUIDEMAKER see the GUIDEMAKER Handbook for details In addition to collecting the actively used media files this command also updates the access paths accordingly in the Media window and stores this updated copy of the presentati
132. play NOTE Do not place the sound file s icon so that it straddles multiple displays unless you specifically want the same sound file to play from multiple display computers Having the sound file play from a computer that isn t really used for sound reproduction places an unnecessary processing load on that computer WATCHOUT can generally play any sound file that can be played using Windows Media Player However the recommended sound file format is WAV There s usually no reason to use a compressed sound file format such as MP3 and the additional decompression step adds unnecessary load The size of uncompressed sound files is usually not an issue with the kind of computers used to play back WATCHOUT presentations WATCHOUT can play back multi channel audio using a suitable sound card see page 34 Multi channel sound files are saved as WAV files using the Wave Format Extensible file format Some applications capable of saving multi channel WAV files include Steinberg Nuendo Digidesign ProTools and Adobe Audition Free tools are also available for creating multi channel WAV files from a number of single channel WAV files For example the CDP Multi Channel ToolKit found here http www cs bath ac uk rwd mctools html Chapter3 Media 59 Using Embedded Audio 60 Some video and movie files contain an audio track in addition to the video In this case the sound will play from the same display computer s as the
133. play computer This can be useful when trouble shooting a system Color and Change Allows you to change the color of the display s outline in the Status window Using different colors for overlapping displays makes it easier to tell them apart Size and Stage Position Determines the dimension and position of the display WATCHOUT allows you to specify any display size However the allowable dimensions are ultimately determined by the display device and display card in each display computer When using the system each display computer will ensure that it s set to the specified size displaying a message in case of any discrepancies Rotation Rotates the display to an arbitrary angle This allows you to use a vertical display format as well as other creative display arrangements as shown in the illustration under Alternative Display Layouts on page 10 Stage Position of Display Center This field is similar to the Left and Top fields in the Stage Position of Display field above but indicates the center position rather than the top left corner The center position is often more useful when the display is rotated to an arbitrary angle Chapter 8 Displays 135 GEOMETRY CORRECTION Display General Geometry E Corner Shapes Correction Y 72 lt gt Examples of screens requiring hori zontal vertical and full correction respectively 136 These settings
134. play computer is indicated by an error icon in the Stage window If you get a error icon quit the WATCHOUT display software on the offending display computer and double check the network configura tion to ensure that it has been set up properly see Network on page 32 and Computer Settings on page 38 Also confirm that the IP address of the display computer matches the settings in the Display Specifications dialog box see Display Specifications on page 134 Any further problems encountered after connecting to the display computers will be reported in the Message window in WATCHOUT and or on the display computer s screen To quit the display software press Ctrl X or Alt F4 on the display computer Chapter 5 Presentation 81 Downloading Media Folders WATCHOUT ire O LicenseKeyInst O MPEG2 resource Shows T DEMO 3 o REESE 1 Cache Media E CachedFiles esi Spec The Shows folder contains a folder related to each show that has been transferred to the display computer 82 Whenever you go online WATCHOUT will check to make sure that all required media files have been transferred to the display computers WATCHOUT will only transfer the files actually required on the individual computer If you modify a media file WATCHOUT will detect this and transfer the updated file While media files are being transferred to a d
135. programs and services running in the background Such programs consume considerable system resources and may serve no purpose on a WATCHOUT display computer You can enhance performance by identifying and removing or disabling such programs To identify any unwanted background applications or services first close all open windows then click the Start button and choose Programs gt Accessories gt System Tools gt System Information Select Software Environment Running Tasks in the list to the left The list to the right displays all currently running programs see illustration on page 158 Look specifically for tasks whose path is anything but c windows system To see which programs that are automatically started choose Software Environment Startup Programs in the list to the left Appendix B Computer Issues 157 o System Information ni x File Edit View Tools Help System Summary Hardware Resources Not Available E Components ctfmon exe c windows system32 ctimon exe Software Environment explorer exe c windows explorer exe System Drivers helpctr exe windows pchealth helpctr binaries helpsvc exe c windows pchealth helpctrsbinaries Signed Drivers lsass exe c Wwindows system32 Isass exe Environment Variables mmc exe C windows system32 mmc exe Print Jobs services exe c windows system32 services exe Network Conne
136. pter 6 Windows STAGE WINDOW The Stage window is used to add and arrange the display areas used in the presentation It also provides a preview of your presentation as you move along the timeline and lets you to position media on stage aax On Off line indicator corre sponding to the Online Moste Stage menu item NOTE To add a display to the Stage window choose Add Display on the Stage menu See Chapter 8 for more details Displays added to the Stage window on displays Selected display Adding Media Add media to your presentation by dragging it to the desired location in the Stage window A corresponding cue will be added to the Timeline window at the currently selected layer and time position To remove the media from the stage window remove the corresponding cue from the timeline Positioning Media on Stage You can position media on stage by dragging it in the Stage window To do so first select the Timeline window then drag the image in the Stage window Press the Shift key to constrain the move The position is displayed numerically in the Position tween track see Positioning Media on Stage on page 69 Press Control arrow key to nudge media on stage Double click a Position tween point to edit its values numerically see Position on page 148 A IMPORTANT To change a position tween point first click the tween point to go to its exact time position then move the
137. r This converts the unbalanced signal coming from the computer to a balanced signal thereby reducing the risk of hum and noise when connected to a professional audio amplifier You can have multiple display computers playing at the same time thereby providing multiple audio channels The synchronization between computers is generally good enough for multi language support or special effects sound tracks but not for true phase accurate multi channel sound reproduction Another option is to install a multi channel sound card in a display computer Such sounds cards can handle up to eight phase accurate sound channels See Multi Channel Audio on page 59 for more details WATCHOUT can integrate live video feeds using video input devices such as capture cards This may be a camera feed a satellite link or the image displayed by another computer for example a Microsoft PowerPoint presen tation For examples on some suitable video input solutions see Live Video Input on page 153 The video signal must be fed to each computer where it s supposed to appear For instance if your system uses five display computers and you want to show a live video image straddling two of those five display areas both those display computers must be fitted with the same kind of capture card and the video signal must be fed to the same input on both cards Chapter 2 Installation Software Driver Installation WATCHOUT Configuration
138. r aspects of your presentation to the display computer With all this material residing on the display computers very little information needs to be sent over the network during playback avoiding network congestion WATCHOUT can be used with virtually any display device that can be connected to a computer such as projectors LCD and plasma displays See Display Issues on page 169 for more details Chapter Introduction 9 Minimal System Configuration Production Display computer computer Alternative Display Layouts Plasma display column Although you can use just the WATCHOUT production software on its own in order to get acquainted you won t be able to appreciate the full power of WATCHOUT until you connect some display computers The illustration to the left shows a minimal system consisting of the following components computer running WATCHOUT Production software computer running WATCHOUT Display software display device for example a monitor or a projector A network connecting the two computers together via a hub or switch In addition each computer in a system running WATCHOUT must have a WATCHOUT license key connected see License Keys on page 32 NOTE The production software can be used on its own without a license key License keys are only required when using the display software WATCHOUT is very flexible in terms of how you arrange the displays The illustration
139. r solve such problems since it circumvents the analog to Appendix C Display Issues 175 Rear Projection Edge Blend Areas 176 digital conversion step which is most likely causing the loss of definition see DVI Connector on page 173 Another possible cause for banding particularly near the edges of images is long or faulty VGA cables Try connecting the display directly to the computer using a short VGA cable to see if this has any effect If so inserting a VGA distribution amplifier often called just DA may solve the problem Such devices are available from for example http www extron com http www inlineinc com and http www altinex com When using rear projection banding may be caused by the screen material This may also occur when using high gain front projection screens Such banding can be identified by the fact that it moves with you as you walk along the screen The only way to avoid or solve such problems is to use a different screen mate rial Suitable low gain screens for both front and rear projection are available from most professional screen manvfacturers for example Aeroview 100 from Stewart Filmscreen Corporation http www stewartfilm com Banding and other artefacts may appear in the overlap areas of edge blended images There are essentially three kinds of problems Too Dark Bright or Uneven Overlap It may be difficult to obtain a perfectly invisible edge blend
140. r the Windows Media 9 format To play back Windows Media 9 video Windows Media Player 9 or later must be installed on each display computer a free download from Microsoft High definition MPEG 2 or Windows Media video can be encoded by for example the Canopus ProCoder http www canopus us us products procoder2 pm_procoder2 asp Windows Media content can also be encoded using the free Windows Media Encoder 9 http www microsoft com windows windowsmedia default aspx NOTE Windows Media HD content requires a fast computer a 3 GHz Pentium 4 or equivalent MPEG 2 HD content will play on less powerful computers When shooting and encoding high definition content a progressive that is non interlaced format is preferable for example 30 Chapter3 Media 5 Computer generated Animations 52 When using computer generated moving images you must specify the frame rate and resolution of the resulting movie during rendering Generally when combining computer generated and pre recorded video material the frame rate is dictated by the live material Alternatively if your playback computer is fast enough match the rendered frame rate to the WATCHOUT display frame rate see Display Framerate on page 108 for example 60 fps progressive It s often advantageous to use smaller computer generated moving images layered on top of larger still images By rendering only the parts of an image that actually move not
141. r the desired projection distance HINT If you re using zoom lenses you may be able to obtain better linearity by changing the focal length and moving the projector accordingly If necessary use the geometry correction feature built into WATCHOUT page 136 to compensate for the distortion Some projectors have similar capabilities built in Appendix C Display Issues 179 180 Appendix C Display Issues D PRODUCTION PC PROTOCOL You can control a WATCHOUT production computer from an external device such as Dataton s TOUCHDOWN touch panel shown to the left or any other device or software capable of communicating using the TCP IP protocol NOTE While similar in its basic capabilities and commands this protocol is different from the one described under Display Cluster Protocol on page 185 This protocol allows you to control the production computer while the Display Cluster Protocol controls one or many display clusters with no need for any production computer The production computer control protocol includes commands allowing you to Load a show from a specified file Start stop position and run the timeline e Access the standby mode To control WATCHOUT production software in this way you must choose TCP IP Network in the Preferences dialog box see External Control on page 108 HINT The TOUCHDOWN GuideMaker application provides a graphical user interface for sending commands to
142. rary computer technology Use it with projectors for large seamless images or hook it up to monitors video wall cubes or plasma screens for other creative screen arrangements This manual is divided into the following parts Quick Start and an Introduction section giving you the big picture Start here if you re a new user or just having your first look at WATCHOUT reference section describing all windows menus commands and other details Refer to this section to learn more about specific functions A number of appendices with additional information related to particular areas of the product such as live video inputs and external control proto cols HINT If you re reading the electronic version of this manual the table of contents index and all cross references can be clicked to jump directly to the referenced page This manual refers to WATCHOUT version 3 The latest version of the software and its documentation can always be obtained from http www dataton com watchout Chapter Introduction 7 SYSTEM OVERVIEW This section provides a brief introduction to the parts that make up a WATCHOUT system and how they fit together Main image area using overlapped projectors Separate plasma display Display Display Display ko I cum sx cM ee Production computer Display computers Ethernet Network Production Computer This is the focal poin
143. rectly This removes the need for a production computer during playback Please see Display Cluster Protocol on page 185 for details In addition to the display cluster protocol mentioned above you may use stan dard timecode to control the cluster Connect the timecode signal to LINE IN of the primary display computer and activate timecode synchronization using the timecodeMode command as described on page 195 NOTE This feature can only be used to control the display cluster for play back It can not be used in conjunction with the WATCHOUT production software When the production software goes online it temporarily disables any timecode input to the cluster Use the separate WATCHOUT Timecode Tester application on the primary computer in the cluster to verify proper timecode reception quality and signal level Connect the timecode signal and choose the appropriate input on the Sound Mixer Input pop up menu This setting remains in effect after closing the Timecode Tester and will be used by WATCHOUT display software HINT Use the Windows sound input mixer to adjust the input level if required Go to Control Panel Sounds and Audio Devices Audio Sound Recording Volume Note that this setting is system wide Changing it through this control panel or other applications may affect the ability of WATCHOUT to read timecode Quit the Timecode Tester after using it Do not leave it running when starting WATCHOUT display s
144. roblematic display and connect the CRT display while the dis play computer is running If you restart the display computer it may sense that you ve plugged in another display and change its behavior for exam ple its refresh rate thereby causing the problem you re troubleshooting to change or disappear The most common reason for such artefacts is lack of synchronization between the video signal fed to the display and its internal operation This is sometimes a problem with digital display technologies such as LCD and DLP It is not a problem with most CRT based computer display technologies since they re generally locked to the incoming video signal Even if your display device supports multiple frequencies it may work best at one particular frequency You may want to try setting both the display card WATCHOUT to 60 Hz FPS even if you re using video optimized for other framerates since this is the optimal display frequency of many projectors and other display devices It is sometimes difficult to determine the optimal frequency of digital display devices or whether the display device is at all capable of synchronizing its internal operation to the framerate of the incoming video signal Often Appendix C Display Issues Dropped Video Frames BANDING Gradients changing the programming to use other rates for moves and other effects can make artefacts less obvious If possible you may also try connecting
145. rol Cue on page 150 Chapter 4 Production TWEEN TRACKS Adding and Removing a Tween track Drag this partition to enlarge the tween pane Tween pane Tween tracks control the behavior of media dynamically throughout the cue For instance you can use an Opacity tween track to make an image fade and out or a Volume tween track to reduce the volume of a sound or movie file To add a tween track first select the cue then chose the desired type of tween track on the Tween menu Tween tracks are removed in the same way WATCHMAKER Production BAX Fie Edit Stage Timeline Tween Rotation Alt R Scale Alt 5 Opacity Kin m Timeline 145 900 1 45 1 50 Ball psd me elejo The tween tracks of the selected cue appear in the tween pane at the bottom of the Timeline window Drag the partition to see more tween tracks Likewise you can adjust the height of a tween track to see more details NOTE The Position tween track can not be removed Chapter 4 Production 73 Adding Points Removing Cutting and Pasting Tween Points Stretching Tween Tracks Corners and Smooth Tween Points 74 Adding a tween track to a cue has no effect in itself unless you use it to change the value governed by the tween track This is done by adding and adjusting tween points along the tween track These tween points provide values acting as key frames along the cue s tween track To
146. s below show some more unusual display arrangements In addition WATCHOUT also supports projection on curved surfaces see Geometry Correction on page 136 Ra ame 7 Vertically oriented edge Diamond shaped Arch built using blended projectors display cluster multiple LCD displays Chapter Introduction Images Sound and Video Live Feeds External Control Dataton TOUCHDOWN PICKUP A WATCHOUT presentation uses multiple media such as still images video clips sound files etc WATCHOUT accepts a wide variety of file formats including PhotoShop JPEG BMP PNG TIFF Targa AVI QuickTime MPEG 1 MPEG 2 High Definition Video MPEG 2 and Windows Media AIFF and WAV Transparent and semi transparent areas alpha channel are supported in both still images and video files depending on chosen file formats For more details on the various kinds of media supported by WATCHOUT see Media on page 47 In addition to pre produced content WATCHOUT can also incorporate live feeds of various kinds Video camera e g for integrating a live image of a speaker into the presentation Other external feeds such as a DVD player or a satellite link Computer graphics e g a PowerPoint presentations Some live feeds require additional hardware such as capture cards in order to bring the signal into WATCHOUT see Live Video on page 61 In other cases the external feed can be brought into the sy
147. s can be removed by unchecking the corresponding item on the Tween menu NOTE The items available on the Tween menu vary depending on the selected media cue For instance Volume tweening is only available for sounds and movies not for still images Read more about the various kinds of tween tracks on page 145 Chapter 7 Commands 8 DISPLAYS Adding Displays Selecting Displays Positioning Displays Removing and Duplicating Displays Displays include projectors monitors video wall cubes and plasma screens You need to install and configure your displays properly as described on page 33 Read more about different display technologies on page 169 To add a display to the Stage window choose Add Display on the Stage menu This menu includes most standard display sizes The size of the display can be altered afterwards using the Display Specifications dialog box page 134 Click a display to select it Shift click to select multiple displays Alternatively drag from a point outside all displays to use the selection rectangle To de select all displays click outside all displays in the Stage window NOTE You must activate the Stage window before you can select displays To activate the Stage window click its title bar Displays can not be manipu lated if Online on the Stage menu is active Drag a display to the desired position using the mouse Press the Shift key while dragging to
148. s example load C Samples ExampleShow watch NOTE When using this load command the production software will auto matically go online after loading the show If desired you can add a numeric parameter to override the conditional layer settings of the show being loaded For example to enable condition 1 and 2 only load C Samples ExampleShow watch 3 Where the number is a sum of the decimal numbers corresponding to each desired condition as shown in the table to the left Appendix D Production PC Protocol E DISPLAY CLUSTER PROTOCOL Overview Preparation CONTROL OPTIONS File based Control You can control a cluster of WATCHOUT display computers using a local command file or from a computer or other device capable of communicating using the TCP IP protocol NOTE While similar to the production computer protocol described in the previous appendix this protocol allows you to control WATCHOUT display clusters without a production computer being present in the system Before attempting to control a cluster ensure that the show has been success fully run from WATCHOUT production software meaning that all media files have been transferred etc Then quit the WATCHOUT production software You can control the display cluster either using a file stored on the primary display computer in the cluster or using commands sent via the network or through a serial port You can use a file stored
149. s running WATCHOUT software NOTE This software is not required for basic WATCHOUT functions You only need to install this software if you want to use the Remote Computer feature see Add Remote Computer on page 123 VNC Virtual Network Computing server software is available for a wide variety of operating systems The instructions below describe its installation under Windows VNC is free software available in several forms http www realvnc com http ultravnc sourceforge net Download the VNC server software from one of the above locations and follow its installation instructions When run under Window XP you re advised to install and run the VNC server software as a Windows Service For best performance use a reasonably fast computer to run the VNC server software and the application you wish to incorporate into your presentation for example Powerpoint Make sure that the remote computer is connected to the WATCHOUT network and has a fixed known IP number in its TCP IP settings see page 40 This IP number and other TCP IP parameters must match the network to which it is connected Also verify that its firewall is disabled or that the VNC port 5900 is open in the firewall see Firewall Settings on page 41 Chapter 2 Installation VNC Server software settings Enter the desired VNC server password here The first time you run the VNC server software you will be prompted to enter a pass
150. s well as more dynamic behavior such as positioning and opacity Cues exist on layers in the Timeline window The layers determine the back to front stacking order of media on stage To add a cue to a layer in the Timeline window drag a Media window item or a media file to the layer or the Stage window Media files can be dragged directly from your hard disk IMPORTANT Whenever possible keep all media used a presentation in a sub folder of the folder containing the show file Doing so allows WATCHOUT to refer to the file using a relative path specification making it easier to move the presentation with all its media references intact When you drag media into the Stage window the cue will appear on the currently selected layer as indicated by a red line under the layer s name and at the current time position When dragging into the timeline the cue appears at the layer and time you drag it to Click a cue to select it Shift click to select multiple cues Alternatively drag from a point outside all cues to use the selection rectangle Use Select All on the Edit menu to select all cues on all layers To de select all cues click in the white space of any layer in the Timeline window Chapter9 Cues 137 Selecting Cues using the Arrow Keys Cutting Pasting and Deleting Cues Changing a Cue s Media Position On Stage 138 You can also select a cue by clicking its preview image in the Stage window This all
151. stem through the network WATCHOUT can be combined with other systems and technologies to build entire presentation environments Use Dataton TOUCHDOWN as an inter active front end controlling any number of WATCHOUT clusters Use Dataton PICKUP as a simple remote control and to provide synchronized multi lingual audio Or make other systems talk to WATCHOUT over a computer network serial port or a timecode feed see appendices for details on external control options Chapter 1 Introduction 11 SOFTWARE OVERVIEW Stage Window Timeline Media Cues and Tween Tracks System Management This section gives an introduction to the WATCHOUT production software The Stage window allows you to organize the displays screen areas to reflect their expected placement It also provides a preview of the end result and allows you to manipulate the placement and movement of images Media files are dragged from your hard disk into the Timeline window where they appear as cues Each cue features a thumbnail icon of the media You determine timing and duration by adjusting the position and length of these cues The horizontal layers in the Timeline window represent the order of over lapping images back to front As media is added thumbnails representing the media files also appear in the Media window This acts as a central repository for all media used in your presentation It provides information about each me
152. system has 100 MBit Ethernet network ports on all computers and an high quality Ethernet switch with the required number of ports to connect the computers It is also possible to use 10 MBit Ethernet although this will slow down media file transfers The network speed does not however have any impact on the runtime timing precision of the system Appendix System requirements B COMPUTER ISSUES DEDICATED COMPUTER Formatting the Disk and Installing Windows While the basic configuration of the display computer outlined in Chapter 2 Installation is sufficient in many cases some computers require additional work to achieve best possible performance This section provides some general hints and pointers on how to proceed If you intend to use a computer primarily as a WATCHOUT display computer it probably makes sense to re format the hard disk and then install only Windows required device drivers and WATCHOUT This avoids many prob lems caused by various pieces of software that are often pre installed on computers or that may have accumulated over time NOTE You don t have to re format your hard disk in order to use WATCHOUT This is an advanced procedure that helps in obtaining the best possible performance You can apply all other adjustments described in this appendix even if you choose not to dedicate the computer to WATCHOUT To prepare your computer in this way first make sure that the hard disk doesn t contain
153. t 60 fps than other refresh rates even when displaying PAL video If you experience jerky motion and or video playback you may want to try setting both the WATCHOUT Preferences and your display computers to 60 fps Hertz Some system configurations don t allow you to change the refresh rate In this case the Refresh rate option will not be shown under the Adapter tab This may vary depending on the display card display card drivers and the display connected to the system See Display Refresh Rate Settings on page 165 for more information A IMPORTANT While WATCHOUT will attempt to set the display resolution automatically setting the resolution manually is usually preferable The rea son is that many display adapters don t allov WATCHOUT to set the most optimal display refresh frequency By setting the display resolution and re fresh frequency manually before starting WATCHOUT you avoid the risk of getting a non optimal display frequency Chapter 2 Installation Sound Settings When using a display computer for sound playback you should ensure that the sound output level of the computer is set to its maximum value Open the Sound and Audio Devices control panel and slide the volume control all the way to the right Sounds and Audio Devices Properties A Volume Sounds 1 Audio Voice Hardware NVIDIA R nForce TM Audio Device volume C Mute Place volume icon in the taskbar Speaker sett
154. t Type Smooth Opacity 100 Volume Volume Time Position 35 35 Point Type _ Smooth Volume 72 Yo 146 Controls the opacity transparency of an image To change the opacity either drag the tween point vertically in the tween track or double click it to change its value numerically See Opacity on page 76 for more details The Time Position field specifies the position of the tween point along the timeline This must be a time within the time span occupied by the cue The Smooth checkbox allows you to change a corner point into a smooth point and vice versa HINT The opacity curve is also displayed in the cue s body allowing you to see it even when the cue isn t selected Controls the audio volume of audio media and video containing audio Its behavior is identical to that of the Opacity tween point described above See Volume on page 76 for more details HINT The volume curve is also displayed in the body of a cue assigned to an audio media item allowing you to see the curve even when the cue isn t selected Chapter 9 Cues Scale Scales an image in relation to its anchor position see Anchor Position on page 144 Scale Time Position 7 55 Point Type C Smooth Constraint Maintain Proportions gt Scale 100 v 100 As an alternative to the Scale Image Size X 513 Y 549 px dialog box simply drag th
155. t for your WATCHOUT production work This is where you collect all the source material or media to create your presentation Using the WATCHOUT production software see page 13 you simply drag media into your presentation positioning it in the Stage window and along the Timeline 8 Chapter 1 Introduction Display Computers Network Display Devices The production computer talks to the display computers through the network transferring media files for you as required as well as controlling the playback of the show You need one display computer for each display device projector monitor etc used in you presentation Display computers handle all the hard work associated with rendering still images and video They also apply edge blends and play sound files The fact that there s one computer for each display device makes the system scalable to virtually any size as more displays are added you also add more computing power to drive these displays The network ties the parts together allowing the production computer to manage all display computers The network is created by connecting the computers to a common hub or switch not shown in the overview illustration As you add new media to your presentation or revise existing media these changes are automatically propagated via the network to the appropriate display computers The network also transfers your display configurations timeline programming and othe
156. t gt Conditional layer enable flags least significant bit is condition 1 NOTE You can not specify a folder path to the show The show must be present in the Shows folder located in the same folder as the WATCHOUT display software gotoTime Jump to the specified time position along the timeline gotoTime 5000 Parameter Description uint or lt string gt Time position to go to in milliseconds or as a string in this format HH MM SS FFF where FFF is milliseconds Appendix E Display Cluster Protocol 191 gotoControlCue Parameter Jump to the time of specified Control cue If the optional reverse only boolean is set to true it searches for the Control cue only back in time from the current time position Otherwise it searches first forward then reverse The command does not change the run mode of the timeline If specified cue is not found the timeline s state will not change and a runtime error message to this effect will be returned gotoControlCue William true Description lt string gt lt bool gt Name of Control cue to look for Search in reverse only if true If false or not specified then search both ways enableLayerCond setLogoString standBy 192 Change the set of enabled layer conditions While the layer conditions can be specified as part of the load command this separate command allows the layer conditions to be changed wi
157. t running halt Stop running gotoTime Jump to a time position 191 gotoControlCue enableLayerCond standBy getStatus setLogoString delay wait serialPort timecodeMode Jump to the time position of a named Control cue 192 Turn conditional layers on or off 192 Enter exit standby mode 192 Retrieves name and status of the currently running show 193 Display some text next to the WATCHOUT logo on screen 192 Introduces a delay between commands command file use only 194 Waits for the entire display cluster to become established 194 Opens a serial port for control protocol use specifying its parameters 194 Activates the LINE IN port for LTC SMPTE EBU timecode control 195 190 Appendix E Display Cluster Protocol load Load a complete show specification from a local file associated with the show name specitied by the first parameter Busy feedback may be sent to the host while loading informing the host about the progress see Busy on page 197 If errors occur Error feedback is sent see Error on page 198 Finally a Ready feedback message is sent regardless of whether any error occurred see Ready on page 196 load Phantom Parameter Description lt string gt Name of the show to be loaded lt bool gt Manage cluster loading and feedback Defaults to true lt bool gt Designate as the master display computer Defaults to true lt uin
158. tall the program If you re uncertain about removing the program or if the program doesn t appear in the Add Remove Programs control panel you may instead choose to disable it This can sometimes be done with configuration options in the program itself Other programs don t offer this capability forcing you to either uninstall the program or disable it using other means Background programs often identify themselves by an icon on the taskbar in the lower right corner of the screen Right click such an icon to open its menu Sometimes the menu includes a Disable Close or Do Not Load item It may include Open Configure or Properties items that allow you to set various options including the automatic loading of the program at start up After disabling a program in this way restart the computer to verify that the program is no longer active Some programs only allow you to disable them temporarily and will then load again the next time you start the computer Appendix B Computer Issues 159 Another way to locate and disable startup programs is by using the System Configuration Utility To open this utility click the Start button and choose Run Enter msconfig into the Run dialog box Click the Startup tab You can turn off any undesired startup item by unchecking its checkbox a System Configuration Utility General SYSTEM INI WIN INI BOOT INI Services Startup Startup
159. tating an image the anchor specifies the point that remains stationary The example below shows the behavior of an image scaled relative to a centered anchor point lt gt HINT A checkbox in the Preferences dialog box determines the initial posi tion of the anchor point for new cues See Center Anchor Automatically on page 108 Chapter 9 Cues TWEEN TRACKS To add or remove a tween track first select the cue then choose the desired type on the Tween menu Tween tracks appear in the tween pane occupying the lower portion of the Timeline window Tween tracks allow you to control the appearance of media on stage over time Depending on the type of media associated with the cue you can add one or more of the following tween track types gt Position S gt o Opacity applies to moving and still images Position applies to moving and still images Scale applies to moving and still images Rotation applies to moving and still images Volume applies to audio and moving images with embedded audio WATCHMAKER Production BAX File Edit Stage Timeline Tween Rotation Alt R Scale Alt 5 1 45 900 1 45 1 50 Opacity Alt O en The following pages describe each kind of tween track See Tween Tracks on page 73 for more details on how to use tween tracks in general Chapter9 Cues 145 Opacity Opacity Time Position 15 4 Poin
160. tem 2 1104 73 GB Unallocated Computer Management Local System Tools Event Viewer 9 83 Shared Folders 4 Performance Logs and Alerts Sto F Device Manager rage gx Removable Storage Disk Defragmenter zA Disk Management m Services and Applications 2SDisk 0 Basic 114 49 GB Online 9 77 GB NTFS Healthy Syste Bl Unallocated Primary partition IMPORTANT On the last page of the New Partition Wizard choose the NTFS file system with an Allocation Unit Size of 32K Generally it is OK to also select Perform a Quick Format Appendix Computer Issues GENERAL PERFORMANCE Identifying Background Programs Specifying a larger than usual allocation size greatly reduces the tendency of disk fragmentation at the cost of a small amount of wasted disk space Given the fact that most WATCHOUT media files tend to be rather large this should not have any practical disadvantages Once the formatting is complete the new partition will appear as the D disk drive in the Windows Explorer Create a WATCHOUT folder on this disk and install WATCHOUT to this disk using the Installer as described on page 31 When given the opportunity to specify where to install WATCHOUT chose the newly created WATCHOUT folder on the D drive The performance of a PC is often degraded by numerous small
161. thout loading another show The command takes a single mandatory lt uint gt parameter with the same interpretation as the conditional layers parameter of the load command see page 191 Display the string parameter next fo the WATCHOUT logo when shown on screen See example on page 187 Enter exit standby mode In standby the display and sound is muted or media on standby layers if any is performed see Perform Normal In Standby on page 92 This mode can be entered exited smoothly by speci fying a fade rate standBy true 1000 Appendix E Display Cluster Protocol Fade out sound and image over one second and enter standby mode If any standby layer is available its media is performed instead Parameter Description lt bool gt Enter standby if true exit if false lt uint gt Fade rate in milliseconds Defaults to zero if not specified getStatus Get the current status of the WATCHOUT cluster master getStatus Reply WO2Launch false 0 true true false 122 true Responds with a Reply with the following parameters Reply Parameter Description string Name of the show Empty string if no show loaded lt bool gt Busy True if the master display computer or any of its slaves is busy lt uint gt General health status of the cluster 0 OK 1 Suboptimal 2 Problems 3 Dead lt bool gt Display is open in its full screen mode lt bool gt Show is active ready to run lt bool gt Progr
162. tible with DirectX 7 and later DirectX is included as a standard part of Window XP You can download the latest version of DirectX from http www microsoft com directx Appendix Computer Issues OTHER ISSUES MPEG2 Playback Sound Playback Defect Drivers This section lists some other issues known to cause problems from time to time Some DVD player programs often included with graphics cards or DVD drives may interfere with the ability of WATCHOUT to play back MPEG2 content including some audio formats To solve this problem uninstall the DVD player application and all its components You need to install the proper software driver for the sound card installed in your computer The driver received with your computer operating system or sound card is usually sufficient but you should check the sound card manufac turer s web site to make sure you have the latest driver version installed particularly if you re experiencing sound playback related problems When installing or updating sound card driver software avoid installing other associated software Additional software is often provided that will run as background applications You may have to check for and remove such soft ware after installing upgrading sound card drivers see Removing Back ground Programs on page 159 Performance and reliability problems may be caused by defect software drivers Such problems can be hard to diagnose Mor
163. tion such as DVI see DVI Connector on page 173 An issue with some DLP projectors is the lack of true black The poor black level produced by some DLP projectors often results in gray banding in overlapping image areas This is particularly noticeable in a totally dark room and conversely is less of an issue in installations at for example a shopping mall a trade show or similar environment This problem is magnified when using very bright projectors on a small screen Avoid using stronger projectors than necessary for your screen size and ambient lighting conditions The contrast ratio has greatly improved over time Modern DLP projectors utilizing second generation black chip Texas Instruments DLP technology often provide a contrast ratio of 2800 1 or better Keep in mind that when using WATCHOUT with projectors you get the combined brightness from multiple projectors Hence good contrast and color saturation is often more important than high brightness Hence choosing a home cinema projector may be better than an office grade projector due to the better color fidelity and often lower noise level of the former To determine the suitability of a particular model of projector always perform proper tests under realistic screen size and lighting conditions Details vary widely among manufacturers and projector models and are not always stated on specification sheets A good starting point when looking for a projector may
164. to a black screen when activating the standby mode see Standby on page 119 Normally the Stage window doesn t preview media controlled from such standby layers You can override this using the Preview Standby Layers command on the Stage menu see Preview Standby Layers on page 118 IMPORTANT In order to be available to the Standby command at any time media on standby layers consume processor and memory resources even while not in standby Avoid using multiple standby layers at the same time or playing video or other heavy duty content on standby layers Generally use only a single large background image at a time Media associated with cues on a conditional layer will perform only when that condition is enabled in the Preferences dialog box see Enabled Layer Condi tions on page 110 This can be used to keep for example multiple language versions of a show in the same file allowing the desired language version to be activated by enabling its associated condition Normally the Stage window previews media on enabled conditional layers only You can override this using the Preview Options on the Stage menu see No All Enabled Conditional Layers on page 118 NOTE The name of a conditional or standby layer is shown in italics in the Timeline window Chapter 6 Windows 23 MEDIA WINDOW Drag to change column width Thumbnail and description of each media item Double click th
165. to multiple files see Pre splitting Large Movies on page 56 The media may not yet be available or may for other reasons need to be provided or replaced manually on the display computer at a later time Use a media proxy to accommodate any of these cases Once a media proxy has been added to the media list it can be used on the timeline just like other media items See Add Proxy on page 120 for more details Chapter 4 Production 67 TIMELINE Joe m Timeline Zoom buttons cue area and tween pane Adding Media Cues 68 The Timeline window shows the temporal relation of cues and effects as well as the layering of overlapping media Cues control the display and presenta tion of media and use tween tracks to control various aspects of the media The amount of time displayed in the Timeline window can be controlled using the buttons in the lower left corner Zoom in to increase the precision by which you can position cues and set their duration or zoom out to get a better over view The rightmost button allows you to change the scale gradually Changing the time scale has no effect on the behavior of the timeline or its cues Tween tracks are used to animate properties of media cues such as position and opacity over time The tween tracks of the currently selected cue appear at the bottom of the timeline window called the tween pane HINT When tween tracks are visible you can toggle
166. ton at Ray Gun pulled out all the stops and created a fabulous 360 degree show with WATCHOUT The immersive experience was a feel good event for Chevrolet in Dubai and ran for four nights eight hours at a time Thousands of visitors enjoyed the thrill of vehicles driving the full 360 degrees around the WATCHOUT screens IMAGES COURTESY OF SIMON EXTON RAY GUN MUSEUM OF WORLD ULTURE E THE MUSEUM OF WORLD CULTURE opened its doors in G teborg Sweden on December 29 2004 The museum focuses on themes that reflects the breadth depth variety and dynamism inherent to the concept of world culture The museum is one of the largest permanent installations for WATCHOUT Local dealer used 25 WATCHOUT licenses distributed across the IMAGES COURTESY OF THE MUSEUM OF WORLD CULTURE ga ea E e E84 yi dodi a Aa Y three floor exhibition WATCHOUT is used either to create seamless panorama images or separate image areas designed to work in sync with each other or other events The museum interprets the concept of world culture in a dynamic open ended manner which suits WATCHOUT just fine OLYMPICS OPENING CREATIVE TECHNOLOGY UK was contracted by Jack Morton Worldwide to provide the video solution for the spectacular Opening Ceremony of the 2004 Olympics in Athens Faced with an enormous technical and physi cal challenge CT chose the Dataton WA TCHOUT multi displa
167. uality Locate Media Anchor Position within Image Left 256 Top 192 Set To Top Left Loop Stage Preview Locates associated item in the Media window Calculates top left or center position for anchor point Chapter 9 Cues 141 Pre Roll Pre roll indicator Drag to change pre roll time 142 Sound and video needs to be pre loaded and prepared a few seconds ahead of its appearance When set to Automatic this time is calculated automati cally This is the appropriate setting in most cases However certain media files most notably QuickTime movies may require extensive computer resources when prepared This may cause already visible moving media to suffer Although this is unavoidable you may be able to reduce the impact by moving the moment when the preparation occurs back wards to a more appropriate time When specifying the pre roll time manually a pre roll indicator appears in the timeline window You can set the pre roll time by dragging the start of this indi cator m Timeline Chapter 9 Cues In Time Loop Free Running Stage Preview Specifies a starting offset into a sound or movie For example a certain movie may have ten seconds of black at the beginning To skip over those ten seconds set the in time to 10 Causes sound or movie media to loop re start from its beginning when played past its duration This is particularly useful
168. umbnail to open media file in its associated applica tion Double click name to edit the media specification Media can be grouped into folders Adding Media 94 The Media window lists all media items that have been added to the presen tation It provides a thumbnail preview of each item along with a description of its name type file location size and other information as appropriate for each kind of media m Media Thumbnail Type Sax Dimensions Duration File Location Eldhimmel tga Image MEDIA Panoran Pano Folder lt Image Image MEDIA blommo MEDIA Panoran Sound MEDIA blommo Video MEDIA blommo Folder Image WATCIIOUT Add new media by dragging files from your hard disk into the Media window or by choosing Add Media File on the Media menu Files dragged directly into the Timeline or Stage windows are automatically added to the Media window as well Each media file used in your presentation will only appear once in the Media window regardless of how many times it is being used Chapter 6 Windows Removing Media File Location Changing the File Association Remove individual media items by selecting them and choosing Clear on the Edit menu Remove all unused media items from the Media window by first choosing Select Unused on the Media menu It is not possible to remove media that s currently in use in the presentation Rem
169. ut Windows Firewall Chapter 2 Installation A DISPLAY COMPUTER SETTINGS Network A2 192 168 0 1 192 168 0 10 192 168 0 12 192 168 0 11 Production Display computer SS To achieve best performance and reliability in your WATCHOUT system you need to adjust several settings on all your display computers Most of the settings below are found by clicking the Start button and choosing Settings gt Control Panel Open the Network control panel and configure TCP IP as described on preceding pages Specify a unique IP number for each display computer by changing the last group of IP address digits As an example in a system consisting of one production computer and three display computers you would end up with IP addresses assigned like this computers If your WATCHOUT subnet is not stand alone but connected to a larger network you should consult your network administrator for the correct number subnet mask and other parameters A IMPORTANT Each display computer must be manually assigned a unique IP address Unlike the production computer the display computers may not use automatic dynamic IP number assignment Chapter 2 Installation Display Properties Display Properties Themes Desktop Screen Saver Appearance Settings Drag the monitor icons to match the physical arrangement of your monitors Display 1 Philips 1
170. void black or large dark areas in the presentation altogether A slightly darker or brighter sliver along the edge blend area is often the result of under or over shooting the chip in the projector Create a test image with a one or two pixel white edge Put this image past the edge blend layer in WATCHOUT so you can see alll its pixels even in the edge blend areas see No Edge blend Past Layer on page 109 Adjust the projector so that the image exactly fills the image area Move the horizontal position of the image to the left so the leftmost row of pixels just disappears then move it back so they reappear Now adjust the image width to make the right edge of the image fit the image area precisely You may have to repeat the position and width adjustments a couple of times since changing one may affect the other Appendix C Display Issues 177 HOT SPOTS CREEPING SHADES 178 Also ensure that the vertical position of the image shows the top and bottom row of pixels There s usually no adjustment for the image height but if there is you may want to check that also Avoid all forms of electronic keystone correction available in most projectors Such a feature deliberately undershoots the image on the chip and will likely cause dark slivers to appear along the edges of the overlap areas Hot spots appear as bright areas near the center of front or rear projected images As you move across the screen these bright areas
171. word The VNC server software then appears as an icon in the lower right corner of the screen while running Pointing at this icon displays the IP number of the VNC server Double click the icon to change the settings V VNC Server Properties User Mode Sharing Desktop Capture Method Legacy Authentication Connections Inputs O No Authentication Encryption C Prompt local user to accept connections jt when the Chapter 2 Installation 37 COMPUTER SETTINGS 38 Each computer needs to be configured for TCP IP networking Click the Start button and choose Control Panel Open the Network Connections control panel Make sure there s a Local Area Connection shown in the list If not make sure there s a Windows XP compatible network card installed in the computer amp Network Connections File Edit view Favorites Tools Advanced Help Name Type Status Device Name LAN or High Speed Internet 11 1394 Connection LAN or High Speed Internet Connected 1394 Net Adapter LAN or High Speed Internet Connected NVIDIA nForce MCP Networking Wizard S New Connection Wizard Wizard 9 Network Setup Wizard Wizard lt 1 m Chapter 2 Installation Right click the Local Area Connection and choose Properties Ensure that Internet Protocol TCP IP is available and selected 7T Local Area Connection Properties Ax General Advanced Con
172. y presentation system Dataton WATCHOUT was used to project eight meter high images on floating rocks for an estimated four billion viewers The images looked stunning both in the stadium and on TV says Charlie Whittock CT s managing director IMAGES COURTESY OF CREATIVE TECHNOLOGY UK TUUM 5 M IMAGES COURTESY OF ON PROJECOES BRAZIL THE ANNUAL SAO PAULO Fashion Week in Sao Paulo from Christie LX41 LCD projectors 36 in all The panels Brazil is a week long event billed as Latin America s most displayed a mix of digital videos illustrations computer important fashion happening generated animations graphic arts paintings and high The 2005 edition of the fashion week teamed Dataton resolution images of Brazilian life The entire display WATCHOUT with 36 Christie LCD projectors to createa covered almost 1 000 2 7 534ft2 and ran for a total larger than life backdrop The dramatic display solution of 98 hours was supplied by On Projecoes one of Brazil s leading Live catwalk shows were captured by a nine camera AV providers array allowing the public outside the room to follow in At this year s event the main scenario was composed of detail and in real time every movement of the models three huge screens each 40m 131ft wide by 7m 23ft high assembled in zig zag panels spanning the foyer and main entrance areas Daily from 9 00am to 11 00pm panoramic images were projected onto these screens
173. y the name of the required file Indicates an error that occurred when reading structured data such as a show specification file Error code and excuse vary with the nature of the error Other errors not covered by any of the above cases Always described further by a string as the second parameter as well as further information in the third parameter optional Appendix E Display Cluster Protocol 199 Authentication Error second parameter gives further details Value Description You have no authority Your authority is insufficient for this command In use by another Programmer Invalid authentication level I 2 3 4 Authentication challenge response sequence failed 2 6 Authentication level not allowed for port 3 Command not allowed in read only mode The third parameter may provide additional context information For instance in the case of being in use by another controller it may provide information to identify that controller such as its address Warning Sent when a non critical error occurs Warning Low Memory Primary Video 960 KB Feedback Parameter Description string The warning message as a quoted string lt string gt Address of originator empty or omitted if originating from the master 200 Appendix E Display Cluster Protocol Information Sent to convey some general information Feedback Parameter Descr

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