Mike Fahl
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Posts posted by Mike Fahl
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Blender and Sketchup are both free programs. WATCHOUT will read basic Blender files as is. I believe you can get Collada file from the free version of Sketchup (since that's essentially its native format, albeit packaged up in some clever way). I know you can export both OBJ and 3Ds from the "Pro" version of Sketchup.
My personally favorite is Cinema3D. A lot of people use 3D Studio Max. Both are rather expensive though. If the above free programs, Sketchup is probably the easiest one to get to grips with. Its texture mapping tools suck, though. Blender is very capable, but has a UI that's not lioke anything else in the known universe, and takes some getting used to. Lots of tutorials on the net though.
Mike
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We're still working on updating the manual. Sorry about that.
Mike
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I've frequently used a GOP structure of 15 for MPEG-2 with WATCHOUT. Make sure you use a closed GOP structure. I assume the OP is intending to run this off one machine. You may want to see if it can handle it as a single 5500px x 1200px video. I believe H.264 will allow you to make such a high resolution. MPEG-2 can be more difficult to encode beyond 1920 (although I have made several 4k wide MPEG-2 using ffmpeg as the encoder).
I suggest you stick to constant bit rate, as that makes the whole process simpler for the decoder. If you'äre using H.264, just use the default GOP structure suggested by your encoder. Doing it as a pre-split proxy is generally more efficient than playing multiple (possibly partially overlapping) videos on several layers, as each computer will then both play "its own" as well as any adjacent screen's videos that may partially intrude on the display.
Hope this helps.
Mike
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There's some videos describing the new features available on our website. They're also found here:
http://academy.dataton.com/cookbook
Mike
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Yes, no and no.
Mike
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Yes.
Mike
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It should. We've made some prelimiary tests on Win10, but since it's not out yet in its final form its hard to say for sure.
Mike
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Yes, the Control cue method works well for triggering one timeline from another. The "Generic Variable" can be used to provide a condition for an external trigger, so that the external trigger will ONLY fire if a specific Generic Variable also is set. This allows you to create some controllable internal logic, using the && "and" operator (since the value of Generic Variable can be controlled by a cue).
Hope this helps.
Mike
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If Jim's doesn't fix your problem, you may want to try installing WATCHOUT on another computer, to see if that one works OK. If so, it may be a system-related DLL that's amiss rather than a WATCHOUT-related one (of which there aren't really that many).
Mike
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The "Generic Variable" Output is mainly intended for use in Task trigger conditions. A new feature in WO6 is that you can use both Inputs and (numeric) Outputs in trigger conditions (previously only Inputs could be used). A Generic Variable can be set using a cue, and then subsequently used as part of a trigger condition, allowing you to build mutually exclusive conditions, and similar constructs, controllable from within WATCHOUT itself. Since such an "output" isn't really tied to any physical output device, it acts more like a "variable" that can be set and used only internally. In a way, it's the Output window's equivalent of the "Generic Input" in the Input window.
Hope this helps. Yes, I know it's a bit geeky, but may be occasionally useful to create some basic forms of internal logic.
Mike
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Here's an updated Beta version. This contains numerous fixes mainly related to 3D objects, Dynamic Omages and Image Sequence playback. We're still tweaking Image Sequence playback, but you can begin testing this new feature with this beta.
http://dataton.com/downloads/beta/WATCHOUT_6b15_Installer.msi
As always, if you find something that doesn't seem to work properly, send a simple example show file with instructions on how to reproduce the problem to support@dataton.se. If you have any questions on how to use particular features, feel free to post here on the forum.
Mike
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Often it helps to just google on the error code, prefixed by 0x:
0x0x8007007E
which seems to indicate that a DLL is missing.
Mike
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Those are mainly intended for external control through the network control protocol. While you can control MIDI and DMX inputs that way too, it feels unnatural to use those if all you want to do is controlling them using network commands only.
Mike
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IANAL, but as long as you're writing auxiliary software that supports WATCHOUT and makes it easier/better in some way for some purpose, I personally have no problem with that.
Mike
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Kaarlek, thanks for the feedback. I would appreciate if you could report any bugs you find to support@dataton.com, to make sure they're not overlooked as we move forward to a release version. Whenever possible, include show file, media, etc needed to reproduce the problem, along with a step-by-step description. Also, if the problem is intermittent, mention that also.
Mike
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Here's the WATCHOUT 6 public beta:
http://dataton.com/downloads/beta/WATCHOUT_6b15_Installer.msi
Download and install as usual. While it is possible to install this on top of an older version 5 installation, you may want to keep both versions around for now. The procedure for doing so is described in another forum posing titled "WO6 and WO5 on the same computer".
IMPORTANT: Any show saved with WATCHOUT 6 will not open in WATCHOUT 5. Thus, make sure you keep backup copies of older shows that you may still want to use with version 5.
We have not yet updated the manual for version 6. To get you started, I have produced a couple of demo videos introducing some of the new concepts. Those are found here:
http://academy.dataton.com/cookbook
While this version has received quite extensive internal and external beta testing, it is still a beta version, and is likely to contain bugs. You may want to think twice before using this on a real show. It is primarily intended for you to get acquainted with version 6 and to provide feedback on any problems you may run into. If you encounter anything you consider as a bug, please provide all details needed to reproduce the problem to support@dataton.com for further investigation.
If you have any questions related to this version, just post as a follow-up right here so others can benefit from the answers. We'll do our very best to answer your questions.
Mike
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The show file is in human readable text form. It's not XML, but somewhat similar (albeit less verbose than XML). In v6 I've added some comments to the file to make it easier to navigate by associating each property value with its name (yes, this makes it a little more XML-ish, but still less verbose, and more readable IMO).
You may want to take a look at this once V6 is out. Open the .watch file with your favorite ZIP tool, and pull out the DFC_Data file, which contains the show data. Open it up with a text editor and hack away. The same format is used on the clipboard, so you can also copy/paste individual cues, compositions or entire auxiliary timelines in the same way, allowing the data to be "massaged" in between.
Mike
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That's correct.
Mike
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I'll post the public beta here on the forum. It may also be featured on our web site. But rest assured that you guys here on the forum will be the first to know.
Mike
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Whoops, Jim.
Well, the public beta should be out shortly anyway, so no harm done. And the same procedure probably applies for previous versions of WATCHOUT as well.
Mike
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You should be able to do as follows:
- Install WO5 as usual.
- Zip the WO5 installation folder.
- Uninstall WO5.
- Install WO6 in another folder.
- Unzip the WO5 installation.
You should now be able to use both versions. You may want to create shortcuts on the desktop to both versions of WATCHMAKER, since doubleclicking a .watch file will now always open in WO6. Instead, drag the .watch file to the desired shortcut on the desktop.
Note that the default and recommended install location is at the root level of your hard drive; not inside the "Program Files" folder. This is particularly important on Win 8.1 and 10. So I suggest you make two folders at the root level; C:\WATCHOUT5 and then C:\WATCHOUT6 respectively.
Let us know how this works out for you.
Mike
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I believe this has been fixed in version 6. You may want to give this a try once the public beta is out in the next week or two.
Mike
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Yes, if you roll into the cue, the time you need to account for should be fairly consistent. There's some overhead in the image server end for loading it in, though, so it's hard to say what accuracy you can expect. Also note that the overhead here may change slightly in WATCHOUT 6 due to the new inage server.
Mike
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Not really. The image server will begin to preload the SWF a few seconds ahead of the cue (like other media). If it then starts playing immediately when loaded, it may have come partway into its animation by the time it appears on screen. I'm not aware of any way by which the precise start of the animation could be controlled.
Mike
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3d Mesh Creation
in WATCHOUT FORUM
Posted
OK. This is what I recalled of as the "work-around":
https://www.khronos.org/collada/wiki/SketchUp
However, more recent versions of Sketchup apparently support this directly in the free version:
http://help.sketchup.com/en/article/36203
I have not personally experimented with bringing Sketchup models into WATCHOUT via Collada, however. Perhaps someone else have some comments to share here on that subject?
I either case, due to the very limited UV mapping capabilities of Sketchup, its probably not a very appropriate tool for ue with WATCHOUT, since UV mapping is an important aspect of what needs to be done in preparation to bringing 3D models into WATCHOUT.
Mike