Using the FPS60 video board
written by Adam Baumberg (1996)
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The capture utility allows you to capture compressed images at 25 Hz
from an external video source directly onto the hard drive. The
overlay facility allows you to view the external video source in the
capture window without capturing -- so you can easily position the
tape. Once you have captured video, an AVI file is generated which
requires the use of the FPS60 hardware for playback. This file can
then be converted into an MPEG movie for porting onto other
platforms. The images will always be captured in a JPEG compressed
format which is a lossy compression algorithm. For lossless image
capture of short sequences use the Indys. To capture ...
- Double click the "Movie Line Capture" icon in the "FPS60" group from windows
- Select "Setup" from the "Capture" menu
- Make sure "Capture Audio" is deselected
- For full sized images -- select "Video" and then "Full"
- Set desired frame rate and hit "OK"
- Select "Source" from the "Options" menu
- Select "Input 1", "PAL" to capture from the VCR. Alternatively connect
a camera to Input2 and select "Input 2". Hit "OK"
- Select "Save Movie As" from the "File" menu to choose a filename
for your movie. Please use the windows File Manager (from the Main
group) to create your own directory.
- Select "Video" from the "Capture" menu and hit "OK" to start
capturing.
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Using Media Player
If you wish to output an AVI file captured with the FPS60 (or
generated for playback on the FPS60) use the media
player. Alternatively you can playback AVI files directly from Adobe
Premiere (e.g. if you wish to add effects, incorporate other images
etc). To use
- Select "Media Player" from the "FPS60" group
- Select "File", "Open" and the desired AVI file
- Hit the play button
- The overlay feature will display the output being pumped out (via
SVideo) to the VCR. You can record the output onto tape.
Note that only AVI files generated for the FPS60 (e.g. using the FPS60
capture utility) can be outputed. You have to convert other AVI
files using Adobe Premiere
Capture utility
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Making an MPEG
Captured AVI files can be converted to MPEG files using the Xing
Encoder utility. The process is SLOW typically taking 10
minutes to encode 1 minute of (full frame rate) video. Hardware MPEG
encoding chips are available but typically cost $8000 which is beyond
our price range! It is advisable to encode long sequences overnight.
To generate an mpeg ...
- Capture video to AVI file
- Select XING encoder icon from "FPS60" group
- Select the NEW button
- Hit OK and then select the AVI file
- Select an output MPEG filename (Please use file manager to create
your own directory)
- Select the single speed or double speed PAL format
- Hit OK and then hit START to begin compressing
- When finished use Xing Player from FPS60 group to view the mpeg
You can FTP the mpeg file to your dream1 account. Double click on the
FTP icon in the "Exceed" program group to use the GUI version of
ftp. Otherwise use the ftp program in the "Microsoft TCP/IP-32" group.
Media Player
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Using Adobe Premiere
Generating video output using Adobe Premiere
To run Adobe Premiere double click on the "Premiere LE" icon in the
FPS60 group. This is a sophisticated piece of software that allows you
to generate all sorts of effects using AVI clips, images etc. A full
description of how to use the program is beyond the scope of this
document (see the manual for info).
Briefly, Premiere allows you to "Compile" a final AVI file for
outputing onto tape.
- When you run Premiere from the FPS60 group it will load in the
default project file with sensible settings for PAL output etc.
PLEASE USE THE SAVE-AS OPTION the first time you save your project
file so that the default file is not overwritten.
- You use "Import" (under "File") to load in all
the relevant clips and images. A single image can be given a duration and thus
treated as a movie clip.
- You can then place what you want into
the construction window and generate a suitable AVI file using the
Make Movie option (under "Make" menu)
- Check that the "//Fast MJPEG" compression codec is selected
(otherwise hit the "Compression" button to select it)
- Hit "Output Options" and make sure that audio is not selected
- Select an output AVI file name and hit OK
- Once the movie is generated, you can hit the play button
on the associated window to output from inside Premiere.
The construction window is divided into track A, track B a transition
track and a superposition track. These are combined to produce the
final movie. Transition effects allow you to fade etc between two
clips. Superposition allows you to add titles etc.
To add tites ...
- To create a title you need to select "File", "New", "Title".
- Once created place the title in the superposition track
- Place the relevant clip in track A
- Select "Transparency" from the "Clip" menu and select the "White
Alpha Matte" Key.
- Make the movie in the usual way
You can also load in a variety of image formats generated on other platforms
( click here for details).
Making an MPEG
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Converting unix images / movies
-
For a single image simply convert to a TIFF or TGA (e.g. use
/usr/local/pbmplus/bin/pnmtotiff).
-
For image sequences you need to create a directory of image files in the form
image000.tif image001.tif image002.tif
etc.
You can use /home/dream/vislib/bin/movie2tiff
to generate TIFF
image sequences from SG movie files (.mv) or mpeg files (.mpg).
e.g. to convert the file "test.mpg" in the current directory, use
/home/dream/vislib/bin/movie2tiff -o ./image ./test.mpg
- From the PC, run FTP to connect to the relevant machine
and copy the files onto the PC hard drive.
- Run Adobe Premiere and use the "File
Import" option
- Select "TIFF sequence" from the "List Files of Type" menu and
select the first image.
- Use the "Speed" option under the "Clip" menu to choose the
playback frame rate as a percentage of the default 1 frame per second.
- You can then make the sequence into an AVI movie file for output
using the "Make Movie" option.
If you experience problems loading TIFF's try using TGA files.
Simply use the "ppmtotga" utility (on single PPM images) or
the "movie2tga" utility (on MPEG's or SG movies)
Using Adobe Premiere
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Latest News
I have had problems loading in TIFF image sequences with lots of greys.
These images will load into Adobe Photoshop but not into Adobe Premiere
(I think there is a bug !). If you experience similar problems then
you need to use TGA (targa) files. I have added a utility "movie2tga"
which will do this. For example, type
/home/dream/vislib/bin/movie2tga -o ./images/ mymovie.mpg
/home/dream/vislib/bin/movie2tga -o ./images/ mymovie.mvc
FTP the files in the usual way and then ...
Run Adobe Premiere and use the "File
Import" option
Select "tga sequence" from the "List Files of Type" menu and
select the first image.
and proceed as for TIFF sequences
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