[Thomas Leong]

Best place to ask such questions might be at https://forums.creativecow.net/forum/corporatevideo

But my 2-cents worth is that the layout should contemplate and balance the workflow versus aesthetics.

For example, visitors/clients should not have to walk through a battleground area created by production-in-progress in order to get to the preview room. So all conference/meeting rooms should be located near the main entrance area. As one gets deeper into the building, this is where the real production and post production areas should be located. Balance this objective with the need for crew, talents, make-up artistes, etc…and the need to move heavy equipment or props in and out for shoots, as well as the need for the set studio to have higher ceiling space for lighting and the occasional tall set, such that the set studio should be located in an easy access area with ample space and the highest ceiling available (i.e. ideally on the ground floor, rather than up the stairs or in the basement).

So as a starting point, contemplate:
– editing and graphics facilities upstairs
– set, equipment storage, reception and meeting rooms on the ground floor
– offices for paper-work in the basement

Thomas Leong

[Thomas Leong]

There are Tutorials and a Manual to download at https://fulldomeplugin.multimeios.pt/index.htm

Pretty pricey in Euro. Seems cheaper in US$ at –
https://www.elumenati.com

Thomas

[Thomas Leong]

If you have problems running sequences fullscreen with Wings Basic, please post your questions at my English-based support site multidisplays.freeforums.org, and I’ll try to answer them there, with screen grabs wherever required. Being software specific, I doubt if the Cow wants those questions here. Besides, I don’t have any other way of posting screen grabs here.

Thomas

[Thomas Leong]

Paul,

I think we should take further questions on Wings off this Forum since most of your questions from here on would involve details on the operation of an application, which this Forum is not supposed to deal with.

You are also a member of the multidisplays.freeforums.org so I suggest posting specific user-type questions are more appropriate there.

Thomas

[Thomas Leong]

Hi Paul,

1. High specs PCs are not an absolute requirement to run Wings. The important requirement is the graphics card – a medium to high end 3D gfx card from ATI or nVidia. I use the AGP version of ATI 9600XT (old but it works!), and each Slave only has 512MB RAM, enough to run videos.

I myself have 2.8GHz P4 (single core, hyperthreading) as Slaves with the Master being a 3.2GHz P4 (also single core, hyperthreading) with 1-gig RAM.

2. I’ve used the above to run 2 videos off one pc quite a few times. The important thing here is to run each video off one track each, i.e. not off multiple tracks, i.e. each video is rendered down to a single video file such that you have only 2 video files per Slave.

To configure, first add Devices for the Master and Slaves.
Then in each Slave’s Global Options > Network, you have tell each Slave which is the Master PC.

In the Master PC, under Project Options > Graphics Display, untick ‘Auto Configuration’, set ‘Fullscreen mode…’ to ‘multihead…’, else you will get a white screen on the secondary monitor. When you update the Slave PCs, they will take the same config from the Master.

To assign which video to which monitor, the settings are in Screen > Multidisplay (for each slave display) > and from each of the Properties pop-up, you can choose which monitor to assign the video to.

Come to think of it, I think Wings v3.50 can be programmed off-line, i.e. it is fully functional except that it can’t output (or it can with a limit of 1 minute) nor can it communicate with the Slaves via the TCP/IP network.

So you should be able to do all the above config and settings on your Master and Slaves without the dongles, and use the Preview Window to see your programming on the Master.

Thomas

[Thomas Leong]

You would get more replies to your questions at the Watchout Showroom forum. Quite a few Decklink users there, not sure of model though.

Thomas Leong

[Thomas Leong]

Apologies Steve, but a small correction –

If the video were all black, one would see the installation but it would be a dim view unless the installation has some other lighting on it. Video black via projection is not pure black as we know it. Being a data signal to the projector, it is medium to dark grey depending on the contrast ratio of the projector, the brightness setting, and the bulb’s lumens. DLP projectors reputedly have a better contrast ratio, and therefore better black, than LCD projectors. 35mm photographic flim slides on Kodak lith film (if still available) would give a pure black since it is not a video signal but a light blocker in the black areas.

Thomas Leong

[Thomas Leong]

The ‘Special Effects’ is one of the presets in Looks v1.0, now part of Suite 2007. I’ve only got Looks, not the Suite. I think there is an upgrade price for your Suite v2.

Alternative is to download the demo of Looks v1.0, check out the components that I had a ‘guess’ at, and see if you can duplicate it with your Suite.

Thomas

[Thomas Leong]

Here’s a guess –

They used Magic Bullet Looks (from redgiantsoftware.com)
– probably with Looks > Special Effects > Benumbed, with added side Grad Exposure tool
– and Looks > Black & White Tint > Black and White Crunch

and then keyframed to super bloom when required.

Thomas Leong

[Thomas Leong]

hi Paul,

Your first comment there, I take that as you saying that it isn’t a good idea to make the lighting console trigger the wings master pc. Is that right?

Yes. This requires the SC Master Lite unit plus a config process.

However if I was to have wings output the timecode to the deck I would need the show control license, but I would only need it on the master PC not the slaves for the screens.

Correct. Only the Master requires the Show Control licence. The slaves do not as they take their instructions from the Master.

For the smpte timecode to come out of the master pc, would that have to be down a xlr cable? I will check the timecode input for the console used.

Depends on your soundcard’s output connection (likely a mini-jack), and the console’s input. The link to Pangolin re its timecode reader should help I hope. It does not seem too expensive. And Pangolin are in the UK, right?

Can I ask again about the TCP/IP hardware. To create the network required to run the slave PC’s for each video output, can I use standard networking equipment eg a normal cable router and rj45 cables. The same you would use to create LAN in a home.
I will be running 3 screens, so was planning to have a master pc and 3 slaves. Each PC connected to the cable router to create the LAN. Is that right?

Yes. Nothing special. 100base LAN will do, unless you are using multi-gigabyte files and running thousands of feet/metres and require gigabit LAN to speed up file transfers. Actually, a router is not required. Just a simple switcher hub (excuse if I have the 2 items confused). Do not use DHCP-assigned addresses. Use manual-assigned specific addresses, eg 192.168.100.200 – 202 and the same subnet mask.

The config procedure is all in the Help files under ‘Multidisplay Shows’.

Thomas