Thomas Leong
Forum Replies Created
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Hi,
I’m fairly conversant with WP4.
Re:
Q1. How can i make my presentation restart after it finished? In other words, where is “replay” option? Is it in “properties” or “options”?It is neither in Properties nor Options.
There are 2 ways.First way is to first add a Marker Track and right-click inside the track to see your options.
Then set a Position Marker with an Index value = 1 (or some other value) at the start, and a Jump Marker at the end of your Presentation to jump to a Position with the same Index value.Second way is (especially if your presentation consists of only one Video file), you can right-click on the Video object itself > Properties > and enable Loop and Asynchronous. When you play-then-pause the Timeline, or F5 into Presentation mode, the video will continue to play and loop.
Of course, if you have 3 separate Video files, one per track, and each has Loop and Async enabled, all 3 will loop, but sync between the 3 is not guaranteed accurate especially on the loop.
Q2. I have 4 outputs on my video card, 3 displays connected to them,3 video timelines, can I make an *.exe file which will “remember” what video timeline match to display.
No. An .exe Presentation is the whole Presentation. After creation from Wings, it plays on its own without Wings. It cannot be split to different Displays. (Well, you can if you use the Matrox TripleHead2Go with the .exe Presentation)
One solution is –
Spread the video file to the 3 Displays by assigning the Video to the ‘Standard’ Field shown in the Video Track Head. Wings will auto-assign the respective Displays you have to take up their individual sections of the Video.If you have 3 Video files and want to assign each to their respective Display, create a Field for each Display under Screens in the Media Pool > Screen 1 > Right-click when you place the cursor on the Display name, and when you Add a Field, Wings will create a new Field at the same resolution and postion of that Display.
Once the Fields are created, for each Video Track in the Timeline, right-click in the Track-head > Properties > and in the Field drop-down, select the Field to assign that Video Track. Thereafter, everytime you drop a video file into this pre-assigned Track, the video will take the position and size of the Field.Using Fields is a quick way to do quick assignments and PiPs, etc. Changes to position and size can be made by Screen Editing (shortcut ‘S’ and click and drag on object in the Display Previews window) or right-click on a Keyframe for the object in Timeline > Properties to open the Keyframe Properties pop-up.
Another Solution is –
If your presentation consists of multi-layers of Tracks, and you want to reduce it to just 3 Tracks (eg. Left, Centre, Right), then you should Output > MPEG 2 video (or some other codec) > Display drop-down > and select the Display you want to output to. The resultant file will come from that part of the ‘panoramic’ the Display refers to (Left or Centre, or Right if you have named your Display like that).
Then add the new files to 3 new Tracks each assigned to the respective Field (Left, Centre or Right), right-click in the Track head of each Track > Properties > and at top of the pop-up, enable “Exclusive Mode for Presentation”. Thereafter, only those Tracks so enabled will play in their respective pre-assigned positions when you F5 into fullscreen Presentation mode.Lastly, I am assuming in the above that you have licences for 3 fullscreen Displays. If you only have a single-Display licence, then you cannot present to 3 Displays from Wings, and I think the only solution is to create and output one wide-screen .exe presentation file and play to 3 Displays using a Matrox TH3Go.
Hope above is detailed enough 🙂
Thomas Leong
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[Danielle Warren] “would they need the 3 units of Brightsign HD210 or the HD210W (wireless) version and a router or Ethernet hub? I don’t understand what these are for if you are playing the same thing on multiple screens.”
Think this link to MultiSynch with the Brightsign units should explain it better.
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There are 2 aspects to this:
1. Production; and
2. PlaybackProduction
AfterEffects can be used for Production, though you’ll have to think of ways to fill a (3×1920) 5760×1080 with a 1920×1080 footage. That’s what we call an output or screen ratio of 3:1.Ideally, such productions from the start would have been designed and shot for the output format. Try and convince your clients that 1:1 does not fit into 3:1. Well it fits, but there is a lot of space around.
If they want the 3:1 filled edge to edge, you would either zoom in A LOT (and cut off a lot of top and bottom in the process) and ENLARGE the pixels as well, or STRETCH the original a lot making objects/subjects distorted. Things like landscapes could be stretched, but people and round objects would look wierd. Depends on the footage. You could could think PiP and multiples of it, or have different views of the same subject matter montaged or PiP’ed over the 3:1 format. These are storyboard and production problems best left to Creative and Art Directors. It’s a different ballgame.
Playback
Probably the most cost effective solution are 3 units of Brightsign HD210 or the HD210W (wireless) version and a router or Ethernet hub. If the HD210W, then a wireless router is a better partner. Relatively cheap, small (to attach to the back of each HD TV), and keeps sync over the 3 units, all day ,everyday. Fool-proof as well – just power up, and the 3 units will run soon after loading and sensing each other. There is a video at the Brightsign site for syncing multiple units.If the client decides to keep to 1:1 and repeat it over the 3 units, then you only need one Brightsign player and a DA (Distribution Video Amp) to repeat the 1 input to 3 outputs. This is usually wired, but if wireless is required, depending on the installation requirements/limitations, then the router way with 3 Brightsign units as mentioned above is still possible.
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Doesn’t sound anywhere near Cinemagraph – though a very artistic look, viewing their work.
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Windows-based: Xara3d
Simple to learn and use. Hope it fits your client’s requirements. -
Yes, wotboxltd has some interesting and useful products.
Ah…Pepper’s Ghost, my favourite subject (and biggest headache/challenge). Problems I’ve encountered were :
– Video black is not black;
– Balancing and gobo’ing the set lights to ‘eliminate’ the bevel edges of the LCD TV monitor we used for the video; and
– on-site color correction to the video which had a tint due to the reflecting glass used.Hope you have less problems in your project!
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Noted. Used to do it with masked 35mm slides (car, plane, boat and kite), but like you said, it was additive.
If the parts of the background were kept dark enough, the ‘transparency’ is not so apparent – examples are alleyway, high angle downwards to a night street view, dark trees and lots of shadows in the background, etc. -
I haven’t tried but you could check out https://www.drs-digitrax.com/download.htm for their Deboard II and/or DeCrawler to see if they will fit the bill. They say these are used for digital signage with live updating possible.
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Just an idea:
Have the ‘walker’ on one of those walking exercise machines, green-screened and keyed – or canned into a video file – and sent to a projector which projects onto a small mirror (8″x8″ will do nicely; probably 3-piece triangular for stability and easier mounting) mounted on a turn-table (slowed via belts and pulleys to an appropriate speed, or have someone build a small motor system for you with a variable speed controller). As the mirror swivels, the projected image of the ‘walker’ on it will ‘walk’ across the width of the screen. Experiment with angles, projection distance and lens to be used in order to –
1. achieve a realistically sized image of a person on screen; and
2. avoid the projected image varying too much in size as it traverses the width of the screen.
The ‘moving walker’ is then keyed over the wide-screen background.As for the wide-screen projected background, if you are not into this, suggest you get a pro to handle it for you. Else try-out VJ software like Module8, Resolume, Archaos, vvvv, and the like depending on which OS platform you use. They all can do wide-screen projection relatively cheaply.
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Try this site –
https://visibleearth.nasa.gov/view_detail.php?id=1438