Mike Fahl
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Posts posted by Mike Fahl
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No, there's no programmable camera in WATCHOUT (i.e., the camera is "fixed"). Instead, move the objects being displayed. To move a complete scene, you may want to use a Composition, to keep all its pieces moving together. Then apply your transformations to the entire composition.
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Generally recommended video formats are MPEG-2, H.264 and WMV. For such a wide video, you may want to consider pre-splitting it according to your display arrangement (see the user's guide for details).
Mike
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The Microsoft WAVE_FORMAT_EXTENSIBLE file format is capable of assigning a mono wav file to a specific output channel
by manipulating the channel mask data, but, I have not seen any utility or sound program that provides this function.
Actually, we do have a utility to do just that, which I put together a few weeks back. I believe JME may have written some instructions, but it should be fairly straightforward to use. Let me know if you need it, and I'll pass it on.
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You can download the software and run the production software without a license key. You can use this to learn the software. Also take a look at all the training videos on our website (see under "WATCHOUT support center, Training movies").
You'll need license keys if you want to connect real displays/projectors to run a full system.
Mike
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No specific such command. But there is a "select to end" command on the Edit menu that allows you to select all cues form the current time position to the end of the timeline, which can help accomplishing what you're asking for.
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You may want to provide an email address if you want someone to contact you with an off-forum proposal to help out here.
Mike
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Just a clarification. There are two versions of the "WATCHOUT Remote". One is written in Javascript, primarily targeting iOS (iPhone/iPad), and one is written in Adobe AIR (runs on Mac/Win/Linux). There's no Java version, which Jim suggests above (probably confusing Java with Javascript, which sounds similar but really isn't).
Note that the various WATCHOUT Remote apps are ready to use as-is, so you don't need to be a developer to use them. However, if you have specific needs, there are also developer APIs as part of these products that can simplify the task of creating a custom control panel for WATCHOUT using any of the mentioned technologies.
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Running video at a framerate that's an even multiple of the WATCHOUT rendering rate always gives the best reuslt. I.e., if you have WATCHOUT set to render at 60 Hz, video running at 60, 30 or 29.97 will look smoother than video at 24/25 fps. But any framerate should still play. To what extent you'll notice any difference in smoothness is mainly due to the content itself, where smooth motion (slow pans and such) will show it off most clearly.
If possible, I would try to avoid ProRes, since it forces the QuickTime path through WATCHOUT, which may negatively impact the smoothness of WATCHOUT in general. It's also a rather heavy codec. If possible, re-encode to MPEG or H.264. However, having said that, I know a lot of people like ProRes for various reasons. And if you can structure your show in such a way that the performance issues associated with it don't affect you, then by all means, go ahead and use it.
Mike
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There's a generic lineup grid that comes with WATCHOUT (on the old DVD or on the WO5 license key) which may work for you as is. If not, I'd recommend using Adobe Illustrator for creating your own custom lineup image.
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As long as the box does regular Artnet, you should be able to use it. Make sure the output universe set in Preferences in WATCHOUT matches what the box expects. Also keep in mind that WATCHOUT needs to be Online in order to output Artnet.
Hope this helps.
Mike
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Just a brief note to let you know that WATCHOUT 5.1 is released today. See below for details on what's changed.
Mike
ENHANCEMENTS
The Move command includes the Z axis.
The Consolidate command allows you to include all media files, if desired, and not just those actively used in the show.
A Control cue can explicitly target the Main Timeline.
Control of Inputs (DMX, MIDI and Generic) is now managed by the display software when production computer isn't online.
MIDI Show Control is now handled by the display software when production computer isn't online.
BUG FIXES
Large images or images extending outside the display don't appear if the display is rotated.
When using multiple outputs from one display computer, video file playback on other displays than the first sometimes doesn't start smoothly.
On the Production computer the sound output stops playing if the icon is not visible in the stage window.
Export of a timeline to a movie file may not complete under some circumstances.
Stage Tiers not working correctly.
Didn't accept expressions such as: (in3 * 500) - 250
Running a single display computer without a network connected (e.g., from serial control or a command file) failed opening the show.
Creating audio waveforms from long audio files or MP3 files could crash.
Audio waveform may not be displayed properly immediately after opening a show.
Audio waveform display failed for WAVE files with floating point data.
Switching shows without re-starting the production software could cause tween tracks controlled by inputs to behave erratic, flipping back and forth.
The path to any Preview movie wasn't adjusted properly when transferring the media to another show by copy/paste of cues.
Playback of multi-channel Wave files wasn't always accurately synchronized.
Watchdog could time out while caching numerous files during an Online or Update operation, thus making the whole operation fail.
INSTALLATION
Version 5.1 comes with an updated license key driver. Therefore, you must install this version manually on each computer, as WATCHOUT's automatic remote update feature can't update the license key driver.0 -
Generally, yes.
Mike
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Nope, the forum engine ate that one too. Again the first query parameter need to have the hash symbol URL-encoded as a percent sign immediately followed by the digits 23.
Mike
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OK, so the forum engine munged that URL, trying to be helpful. Let's see if it will make it rhough without the leading http part
search.twitter.com/search.json?q=#watchout&count=5
The first q parameter reads "percent", "two", "three", followed by the word watchout, where "percent", "two", "three" is the URL-encoded hash (pound) symbol #.
Mike
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You should be able to use the twitter search API for that. Getting the datas as JSON, seaching for #watchout, would look like this:
http://search.twitter.com/search.json?q=#watchout&count=5
See the twitter search API docs for more details. Note the URL encoding of the # sign as #.
Mike
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FYI, the need for having a switch attached also for single display use will be removed in the upcoming 5.1 release.
I assume there was traffic talking to the display computer in question causing the problem you describe. Merely having traffic on the port shouldn't disrupt the presentation. But if there's data telling the display to do other things (such as an online production computer, or another cluster member), while attempting to run it from timecode, there will of course be a conflict, resulting in seemingly erratic behavior.
Mike
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One nore detail. You may want to enclose the cue and timeline names within double quotes, as they are strings. Particularly if you use spaces in their names, or other unusual characters. As long as you stick to letters, ddigits and underscore, you should be fine without quites, as you've noticed. But it never hurts to do it right anyway.
Mike
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Yes, the manual seems incorrect here for the production software. Follow the syntax described for the display software, as the production sw works the same way. Noted to be fixed in the next manual rev.
Mike
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A somewhat belated reply to the original poster. I've noticed that occasionally the dynamic image server may get confused when you update files over the network, since it may end up trying to read the file while it in the process of being updated. Instead of writing directly to the target file, write to a temporary file, and once done, delete the target file and rename the temp file with the desired target file name.
Hope this helps.
Mike
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Stereoscopic setup
in WATCHOUT FORUM
Posted
I'm not sure what you mean by "Z-axis separation". But in terms of eye distance, the general rule of thumb is that you should have at most about 6 cm difference between right/left image on screen. When you do the separation in WATCHOUT (that is, for content positioned in 3D space in WATCHOUT), this is easy to adjust until it feels right. For pre-produced video, this is harder, since the separation is then "burnt" into the video form the outset (determined by the camera separation used to shoot the video).