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Mike Fahl

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Posts posted by Mike Fahl

  2. Wake Up on LAN for WatchMax Sever

    in WATCHOUT FORUM

    Posted

    IF Display PC is powered off at source (i.e. Power Supply Unit is off), all bets are off. WOL will not work when powered back on. In my opinion, in such case, a third party utility is required, such as "Auto PowerOn and Shutdown", a shareware. ... 

    after power off from Production PC, I tried after 1 minute and after 5 minutes+ and the Display PC will still remote power on from Production PC, given the settings above.

     

     

    In order for WATCHOUT production software to be able to wake up a display computer, it must have been used to remotely shut down said display computer at least once. Doing so makes the production PC remember the MAC address of the display computer, which is needed to wake it up again at some future moment.

     

    Mike

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  6. Building Mask for WO

    in WATCHOUT FORUM

    Posted

    A nifty method is to use Photoshop on a second monitor (full screen). You can set up photoshop to render the image being edited full screen to a secondary monitor. Then bring that secondaty monitor into WATCHOUT either using capture card (full framerate and expensive) or using "Remote Computer" (not full framerate but cheap). You can then "paint" a mask more or less in real time on that monitor, while seeing the result projected through WATCHOUT. Once you have the mask, you can use it as a mask in WATCHOUT through the "masked by layer above" feature. If you want to mask just a video, this is straightforward. If you want to mask a more complex timeilne, make the timeline as a composition, then mask the composition with the mask.

     

    This video discusses using a Cintiq pen display, but the same technique should work regardless of monitor type:

     

       

     

    Mike

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  7. Blurry Projection (aliasing issue?)

    in WATCHOUT FORUM

    Posted

    I have seen this occur when you start up the display computer

    with no signal present on the DataPath card.

    It defaults to a low resolution when there is no signal to analyze,

    and for some reason it does not switch to the new resolution when the signal is applied.

     

     

    I believe that problem was fixed in WO6 (6.0 as far as I can recall). WATCHOUT should now use the resolution as specified in the Live Video media item, rather than relying on the source feed having the proper resolution (which it may not have if the feed isn't there from the outset). So you may want to double-check that the "Dimensions" set matches your feed, as described under "Live Video Settings" here:

     

       http://academy.dataton.com/wo6/Menus.xhtml#Anchor

     

    Mike

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  9. How to issuse aliasing when make 3D Mapping ?

    in WATCHOUT FORUM

    Posted

    While Miro's solution is very good, it is more taxing for the hardware, so make sure you re-test before going on site, to make sure everything still plays as expected. Another trick to improve this a bit, if you're rendering through a virtual display, is to make the virtual display two pixels wider and taller than the content you're playing on the surface. This trick assumes the content is just played as is, and doesn't move about or extend outside the virtual display. Place the content centered on the virtual display, leaving a 1 pixel "transparent" border of pixels all around. This should take off the jaggies, at the expense of the image not extending all the way to the edge of the 3D geometry (due to this "one pixel off" trick). Since the edge pixels are transparent, you'll get antialiasing between those and the edge pixels of the content.

     

    Mike

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  10. swf dynamic media issue

    in WATCHOUT FORUM

    Posted

    I believe it does still support "animations". I.e., it supports images that change over time. I once did a live PONG game that played quite well through the dynamic image server. Although the framerate will often be lower than what you usually get from Flash when played in a browser. This is particularly the case if the imge is "complex" in terms of its content, colors, gradients, etc (that PONG game I did was all black and white, just for this very reason).

     

    Mike

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  12. New geometry points

    in WATCHOUT FORUM

    Posted

    Take a screenshot of what your screen looks like just before you "add the point" that makes the production software crash. Submit that screenshot, along with the above mentioned dmp file and a copy of the show file saved JUST BEFORE you add that point. This should allow the problem, if any, to be reproduced and investigated. Send to support@dataton.com

     

    Mike

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  14. WO5 and Xkeys

    in WATCHOUT FORUM

    Posted

    X-Keys seems to be able to run a program when a key is pressed. Assuming you can pass command line parameters to such a program, you can make it run something like netcat or (perhaps even more convenient) the udpsend sub-command of swiss-file-knife. The udpsend sub-command can send a string with both ascii characters as well as other data specified as hex bytes. Seems quite useful for this kind of purpose. More details here:

     

       http://stahlworks.com/dev/index.php?tool=udpsend

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  15. Watchout 6 - 3D Model positioning and Mapping

    in WATCHOUT FORUM

    Posted

    I don't understand your question "I heard that maybe z-depth would allow correction for this and manually convergence the imagery in WO?". Please clarify. Also, I don't understand what you mean by "US wall and the DS wall", and  how the walls are arranged and projected onto. A drawing of the room, with walls and projectors, would help.

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  19. Watchout 6 - 3D Model positioning and Mapping

    in WATCHOUT FORUM

    Posted

    You can put both models in the same 3D file. They will then maintain ther relationship when brought into WATCHOUT, while still being able to be textured separately. Alternatively, export them as two separate models after positioning them as desired in the 3D program, and use the model's origo as anchor point in WATCHOUT, and place those anchor points at the same stage position. This will essentially do the same thing, but with separate files.

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  21. Composition Issues (Playback and Editing)

    in WATCHOUT FORUM

    Posted

    While I'm out of the loop these days, I do have some insights into how compositions work in general (as I wrote the code in the first place). In essence, a composition works exactly the same as if you would take all the cues that are inside the composition and paste them directly onto the enclosing timeline, replacing the cue that plays the composition. There should be no rendering overhead associated with playing a composition.
     
    Having said that, a composition do give you some additional capabilities:
     
    1. You can loop and /or free-run a composition (this is similar to how a video can be looped or free-run).
    2. You can transform the entire composition (position, rotate, scale) as a whole.
     
    Neither of those actions should have any noticeable impact on performance, since they have pretty much zero runtime overhead.
     
    I'll now try to answer some specific questions from above.
     
    > When I play files inside a composition the computer has a harder time.
     
    This sounds like a bug. It should make no difference whether the cues are in a composition or out on the enclosing main/aux timeline. Please provide a reproducible test case showing this to support.
     
    > I've also noticed that it's not possible to pre-load a composition
     
    Content inside compositions have automatic preloading, just like everything else in WATCHOUT. There's no manual preroll override on compositions (as there is on video cues), if that's what you mean.
     
    > Do compositions bring a performance hit?
     
    No. They should not.
     
    > Would they work better with a different codec?
     
    What codecs you use is orthognal to whether you use compositions or not.
     
    > Is it possible to hold on the last frame of a composition?
     
    No. A composition is not a video. It is a collection of cues bundled together.
     
    > Do the "Free Running" and "Loop" checkboxes of video files insides Comps actually do anything?
     
    I believe they should work the same as for cues on the main/aux timeline, but I may be overlooking some detail here. It's been a while...
     
    > I assume that Compositions add complexity to the rendering pipeline. 
     
    They do not.
     
    > I don't know whether Watchout pre-renders the elements 
     
    It does not.
     
    > I don't know whether the dimensions specified for a Composition have any effect 
     
    It does not. This is called the "Reference Frame", and is just that. A frame of reference, that's also shown as the rectangle in the Stage window allowing you to select and move the composition on stage. But this frame doesn't specify any pixel boundary. You can have images in the composition render outside this frame just as well.
     
    > I don't know whether unnecessarily large dimensions mean a performance hit
     
    It does not.
     
    > looping & free-run seems to work fine with one level of Compositions but not when they're nested
     
    That's correct. There are some limitations related to looping and free-running in nested compositions. I believe those options only affect the topmost composition level. Trying to wrap you mind around all the possibly permutations here makes your head hurt. Don't even try.
     
    > As for pre-loading, ... the media still has to be pre-loaded.
     
    That's correct, as I mentioned above about automatic pre-loading.
     
    > I assume that Watchout is scanning ahead in the timeline pre-loading media in Compositions about to be displayed
     
    That's the same regardless of whether cues are in a composition or not. Automatic pre-loading starts about 3 seconds before the beginning of the cue unless overridden manually (available in video cues as the Preroll option).
     
    >  is there any advantage in placing media in the Main Timeline as opposed to running from aux timelines
     
    No. Main and Aux timelines are rendered in the same way.
     
    > Let's say I have a dozen compositions which run sequentially, is there any gain in performance in placing these on the Main Timeline, as opposed to placing them in an Aux Timeline for more flexibility?
     
    No.
     
    Mike
     

     

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  22. Display Computer Not displaying

    in WATCHOUT FORUM

    Posted

    I agree with Jim. Not seeing the IP address on the display computer screen means it is not seeing the network or getting an IP address. What does the "ipconfig" terminal command show? Open a "cmd" shell, and type 

     

      ipconfig

     

    then copy the result and paste it here. This will tell us what your PC things about its network environment, which may give a clue.

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  24. No capture of VisionRGB-E2s with WO 6.0.2

    in WATCHOUT FORUM

    Posted

    We now checked ALL drivers, settings... exchanged parts from our various PCs and the only success we had was that we could see the capture after a reboot of the display PC. But only when touching the media item for the first time. Once, we left the media item, the feed never comes back until another reboot.

     

     

    If the problem persists even after quitting and re-starting WATCHOUT on that computer, and isn't resolved unless you reboot the computer, the problem most likely lies in the capture driver. Trying a different driver verison may help.

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