Using the Video Manager

The Video Manager enables you to bring a live or pre-recorded video into Vivien and play it back. To do so, you create video sources, which you can then assign to screens and to projectors that you have inserted in your file from the Library Browser. For detailed information on drawing screens, see “Drawing screens”.

Notes:

• To play the video, you use the Video Tool. For more information, see “Using the Video Tool”. You can view the video in any of the Virtual Views, using the controls on the Video Tool to pause, fast forward, rewind, or stop the video.
• Before you render your drawing, you can either pause the video at the precise image you want to see in the final rendering, or you can let the video run while the Render Wizard processes the information in your drawing. In this case, the Render Wizard captures the video frame that was showing when it processed the screen information.
• The Video Manager window can be resized to accommodate videos that have a higher or wider aspect then the default window size.

To access the video manager

From the Managers menu, choose Video Manager.

Result: The Video Manager appears.

Video sources

• Video File is a pre-recorded video saved in your computer in a specified video file format. Vivien supports video files in the following formats:
• MPEG-4    “.mp4”
• MPEG-2 “.mpg”
• Matroska “.mkv”
• Windows Media Video “.wmv”
• Audio Video Interleave (AVI) “.avi”
• QuickTime File Format (QTFF) “.mov”

Note: If you cannot view these file types, you may not have the proper CODEC installed on your PC. Install the appropriate CODEC, and then try viewing the file again. For more information about playing back video files and the use of CODECs, please see https://forums.cast-soft.com/index.php?threads/playing-video-files-in-vivien.1172/.

• Video Capture is a live video stream that comes from an external video capture device or a Blackmagic Design Device.
• Camera (I-Mag) is a Video Source that displays the view from Cameras drawn in Vivien when applied to the Screens, Video Projectors, and LED Walls.

Video subsources

Video Sources can be split into subsources in the Video Manager. This enables you to apply portions of the video to multiple screens, 3D primitives, LED Walls, or projectors. For more information on creating Video subsources, see “Splitting video into subsources”.

To create a new video source in the video manager

1. In the Video Manager, click the New icon.

Result: The Video Source window appears.

2. In the Name box, type the name of the Video Source.
3. Select the Video Source from the options in the Input section.

• Video File: Click Browse to select the video file you wish to use. For more information about video file playback, please see https://forums.cast-soft.com/index.php?threads/playing-video-files-in-wysiwyg.370/.
• Video Capture: Select to use live video stream captured from an external device that is attached to your computer.

Note: When a Blackmagic Design video capture device is detected, the Video Capture with Blackmagic Design Device radio button is automatically selected. In order for these devices to work properly, always use this option, not the Video Capture option above it. To connect them, their input source and resolution are selected through the utility that was installed with their driver.

• Camera (I-Mag): The view from the camera drawn in Vivien.

4. Browse to locate the video on your computer, and then click OK.

Result: The video is added as a source.

• Name: The video’s file name.
• Source: The path to the physical file.
• Dimensions: The file’s dimensions in pixels.
• In Use: Informs you of whether the video source is in use. If the video source is currently in use, it cannot be deleted from the Video Manager.
• Mute: Indicates if the sound has been muted in the video.

Display Settings

• Show video at: Select the zoom level for the video. You can choose to Fit the video in the display window, or show it at a percentage of its actual size: 100%, 200% or 300%.
• Placeholder: Select this options to display the placeholder that was set in the Source Properties section.
• Borders: Select this option to show the subsource borders in the display.
• Selected Only: When you have selected a subsource in the table, select this checkbox to only show the subsource in the display area; if you do not select this checkbox when a subsource is selected, the entire source is shown (with the subsource borders highlighted in the display if you selected Borders).

Source Properties

• Source Name: The video file’s name.
• Placeholder: Select the image file that was created in Image Manager, or click New to create a new placeholder image in Image Manager.
• Flip Horizontal: Select this option to flip the video source.
• Flip Vertical: Select this option to flip the video source vertically.
• 4-byte Alignment: Select this option to align the pixels of a distorted video image. The 4-byte Alignment checkbox is automatically available only if the video source requires the alignment.

For details on using the Video Tool to play the video, see “Using the Video Tool”.

Splitting video into subsources

After you setup the video source in the Video Manager, you can take the video source and split it up into subsources that you can apply to multiple screens, 3D primitives, or projector-style fixtures that you have inserted from the Video Projection section of the Fixtures library.

To do so, click the Split Video tab in the Video Manager, select a video source that you set up, and then split it either manually (by defining the pixel coordinates of each split) or automatically/evenly (by setting the number of rows and columns). You can then split these subsources further, if desired.

Once you split the video into subsources, you can attach the subsources to the objects that you want to use to display the video, just as you would attach a regular video source, and then play the video using the Video Tool.

To create a single video subsource

1. In the left pane of the Video Manager, click to highlight the image for which you want to create a subsource.
2. In the bottom left corner of the window, click Single Subsource - create one.

3. Type the subsource name.
4. By default, the system uses the start and end coordinateds of the selected source, but you can change these values as desired. When you change these values, the system automatically updates the dimensions:

1. Start Coordinate: Type the starting coordinate for the subsource (the top-left corner of the subsource) in the format “x,y”, where x is the horizontal coordinate and y is the vertical coordinate. Note that the coordinate system uses the top-left corner as the origin (0,0). also note that when video is shown at 100-300%, a tooltip appears under the cursor, indicating its position.
2. End Coordinate: Type the ending coordinate for the subsource (the bottom-right corner of the subsource) in the format “x,y”, where x is the horizontal coordinate and y is the vertical coordinate. Note that the coordinate system uses the top-left corner as the origin (0,0).

5. Click the Border box to specify the color of the border that will appear around the subsource when displayed.
6. Click OK.

To create multiple video subsources

1. In the left pane of the Video Manager, click to highlight the video for which you want to create subsources.
2. In the bottom left corner of the window, click Multiple subsources - create many.

3. Type the subsource name.
4. Define the subsource matrix by specifying the number of columns and rows. The dimensions of the subsources are displayed for your reference:

1. Number of columns: Type the number of columns of subsources to be generated. If the video resolution cannot be equally divided by this number, the remaining pixels will be left at the end (for the horizontal pixels this means the ones at the far right, and for the vertical pixels this means that ones at the bottom.).
2. Number of rows: Type the number of rows of subsources to be generated. If the video resolution cannot be equally divided by this number, there will be a few gaps in the generated subsource grid.

5. By default, the subsources are created by taking the overall source area (height & width and evenly dividing it by matrix provided. However, you an modify the total area by changing the start/end coordinates and, therefore, the overall dimensions used to create the subsources. to do so, select the checkbox beside Modify total area for subsources, and then enter the appropriate values:

1. Start Coordinate: Type the starting coordinate for the subsource (the top-left corner of the subsource) in the format “x,y”, where x is the horizontal coordinate and y is the vertical coordinate. Note that the coordinate system uses the top-left corner as the origin (0,0). also note that when video is shown at 100-300%, a tooltip appears under the cursor, indicating its position.
2. End Coordinate: Type the ending coordinate for the subsource (the bottom-right corner of the subsource) in the format “x,y”, where x is the horizontal coordinate and y is the vertical coordinate. Note that the coordinate system uses the top-left corner as the origin (0,0).

6. Click OK.

Result: The following graphic shows a video with nine subsources (three columns and three rows).

Notes:

• Subsources are always listed below the source from which they were created.
• The table in the Video Manager provides a convenient way of displaying source/subsource information; all sources and their subsources are grouped, and can be expanded/collapsed.
• You can rearrange the columns in the table by clicking the column header and dragging it to the new position.
• You can adjust the width of columns by clicking the column border and dragging the column to its new width.

To clone an existing subsource to a new video

1. In the left pane of the Video Manager, click to highlight the video you want to clone a subsource to.
2. In the bottom left corner of the window, click Clone From Existing Subsources.

3. Select the media type that contains the subsource you want to clone, either Image Sources or Video Sources.
4. Select the desired subsource from the corresponding source drop-down menu.
5. Enter a name for the cloned subsource in the Subsource Prefix field.
6. Click Apply.

Result: The selected subsource will be cloned and applied to the 60 selected video.

Changing the properties of video sources and subsources

Note: If you change the source after the subsources were created, and the new source has different dimensions that do not match the subsources dimensions, the affected subsources are highlighted in yellow (and a dialog appears to notify you as such).

When you select a row in the Video Manager table, the properties of the video source or subsource are displayed in the Source Properties section of the window. You can change various properties of the video source and subsources as follows:

• To change the border color of video subsources, in the table, click the appropriate border color and then click on the drop-down box that appears to select the new color. Click Update.
• To change the name of the video source or subsource, in the table, click the appropriate row. Type the new name, and then click Update.
• If you have already applied a video to multiple objects, and then you want to replace the source file with something different, you can make the change once in the Video Manager and have it automatically applied to all related objects (i.e., you don’t have to individually apply the changes to each object's properties). To do so, you change the underlying source file to the Video name.
• You can define a subsource either by its start/end coordinates or by its dimensions:
• To resize the subsource, click the appropriate row in the table. Change the start/end coordinates as desired, and then click Update. Note that if you change the coordinates, the system updates the dimensions automatically.
• To change the dimensions of a subsource, click the appropriate row and then type the new dimensions. Note that when you change the dimensions, the system will automatically add to the start coordinate to determine a new end coordinate. Click Update.

Note: You can use the Video Tool to apply the Video Subsources. For details, “Using the Video Tool”.

To configure a new video source for streaming video

To create a new video source for streaming video, you use the Video Manager. There are a couple of ways of opening the Video Manager (for example, from the New Screen window, or from the Tools menu); the following procedure lists one possible way.

1. From the Managers menu, choose Video Manager.
2. Click the New icon in the upper-left corner.

Result: The Video Source window opens.

3. In the Name box, type a descriptive name for the video.

• To play a video from a file, click the Video File option button, and then click Browse to locate the file.
• To capture a live video stream from an external source, such as a web cam or a video capture device that is attached to your computer, click Video Capture, and then use the drop-down arrow to select the appropriate device. Vivien will detect what standard resolutions the capture device can support, and display them in the Resolution drop-down box; click this drop-down to choose your preferred resolution.

If you select a Video Capture option, configure the Input and Resolution values for the device:

• Input: Choose between various inputs found on video capture devices (e.g., HDMI, DVI, S-Video, and so on).
• Resolution: Select the resolution of the incoming video, provided that multiple resolutions are available from the selected input.

Note: The Video Capture option must not be used when a Blackmagic Design video capture device is used; when using such devices, you must click the next option, Video Capture with Blackmagic Design Device. Devices from manufacturers can only be detected and used if their driver is of the WDM (Windows Driver Model) type. In order for Vivien to be able to connect to the video capture device, that device must not be currently in use by another application.

• A Blackmagic Design Device is automatically detected in Vivien. The Video Capture with Blackmagic Design Device radio button is automatically selected if a Blackmagic Design Device is detected. A text prompt appears below the Video Capture radio button confirming the detection and asking to select the Blackmagic Design Device. Use the drop-down box to select the Blackmagic Design Device.

Note: As with all other capture devices, in order for Vivien to connect to Blackmagic Design devices, that device must not be currently in use by another application.

• To play a view of a drawn Camera, click Camera (I-Mag) and select the Camera from the drop-down.

4. To mute the sound of the video, in the Video Manager table, select the checkbox in the Mute column. If this checkbox is not selected, the video’s sound will play.
5. Click OK. If the video is available, it connects automatically.
6. Click OK to save your changes and close the Video Manager.

Applying textures

Vivien includes textures that simulate various types of surfaces, such as brick or cloth. You can apply textures to different objects, such as surfaces (created with the Surface tool or by extruding a line), drape lines, library objects, and venues. You can also use your own bitmap or jpeg files as textures, to simulate projection screens, or to cover a surface with a texture specific to your event.

Vivien supports Alpha Mapping with PNG images. Camera view can look through and lighting beams can pass through transparent sections of these images.

Alpha Level supports Alpha Blending for Camera on overlapping surfaces with transparency. Two overlapping translucent surfaces will be displayed accurately showing the levels of intersecting transparencies.

When customizing an object, you can apply either a color or a texture; you cannot apply both.

Note: You can apply textures in Vivien only if you have installed them; in most cases, they are automatically installed with the Vivien software.

To apply a texture to a surface

The following procedure details how to apply a texture to a surface, but it can also be used to apply a texture to other objects by right-clicking, and then selecting Object Properties.

1. Right-click on the surface to which you want to apply a texture, and then choose Object Properties.
2. Click the Appearance tab.

3. Select the texture option that you want. The options are:

• Texture from Library: Indicates that the selected surface is a texture from the Vivien library. The texture name appears in the box provided. Click the ellipsis button (...) to modify the selected surface.
• Image Source: The selected surface uses a texture from an external bitmap or jpeg file on your hard drive rather than one from the Vivien library. Click the ellipsis button (...) to select the external file to be used as a texture.
• Video Source: This option is only available for objects with the screen element such as projection screens, TV screens, etc. The selected screen element applies the texture from a live or pre-recorded video source. Click on the drop-down menu to select from the images stored and available in Video Manager, or click New to create a new video source in the Video Manager.
• Use Normal Map: The selected surface uses an Image Source that’s a Normal Map, to create the perception of fragmented surface texture detail and depth, making objects look more realistic.

Click the drop-down box to apply an existing Normal Map image or click New to create a new Normal Map image via the Image Manager.

Note: This drop-down lists all Image Sources that appear in the Image Manager; as such Image Sources which are Normal Maps should be named appropriately, for easy identification.

Click the Scale drop-down box to set the height or depth of visual effect created by the Normal Map. Click the drop-down box to select the percentage scale value from not visible (0%) to maximum value stored in the imported Normal texture/image (100%).

4. Select Tile to have the texture repeated over the selected element in a continuous series of squares or rectangles, and then type the size of the frame in which you want the texture to appear in the Width and Height boxes. Based on the size that you enter, Vivien calculates how many times the texture is repeated (or tiled) to completely cover the selected element.

OR

Select Stretch to make the selected texture grow to cover the entire surface. Based on the aspect ratio and the rotation angle, Vivien evaluates the surface with all of its edges and stretches the texture so the best fit is used. This option is not active unless you choose a texture.

Tip: To preserve the aspect ratio of the texture so it is not distorted when stretched over the surface, click Keep Aspect Ratio.

5. To choose a custom border color for the texture when it is stretched over the surface, click the Border Color box, and then choose the custom color.
6. If you selected Use Normal Map, you can specify the number of times the Normal Map is multiplied across an object (element) to which it is applied. Type the value in the Normal Map Size Multiplier box. (Enter a valid number between 0.01 and 100.)

Note:

• The default value of 1 results in no changes to the Normal Map’s size; values lower than 1 will increase the size of the Normal visual effect, and values higher than 1 will decrease it.
• The Normal Map Size Multiplier operates within the Tile or Stretch Texture Options.

7. If the texture has text or another recognizable image in it, you might need to rotate the image to get it right-side up. Type the rotation angle in the Rotation (Deg.) box.
8. Click OK.

Applying textures with alpha mapping

Vivien supports simple Alpha Mapping with PNG images. Camera view can look through and lighting beams can pass through transparent sections of these images that were set as textures.

Alpha Level supports Alpha Blending for Camera on overlapping surfaces with transparency. Two surfaces with transparency levels that overlap will be displayed accurately showing their transparencies crossing each other

When Alpha Beam Shadows is enabled, alpha fill percentage/value in images are utilized when altering the beam’s color and intensity as it passes through surfaces with transparency. See “Simulation tab” in Virtual View options.

Beams do not handle different levels of Alpha fill. Beams will only pass through the images with Alpha fill level between 0 and 127 of 255.

In a PNG image file:

• Areas of the image filled with any level of transparency will work correctly as transparent or semi-transparent textures in Virtual View.
• Areas of the image filled with higher transparency (Alpha fill level between 0 and 127 of 255) will allow beams to pass through.
• Areas of the image filled with lower transparency (Alpha fill level between 128 and 255) will not allow beams to pass through.

Notes:

• Each alpha shadow level supported for this feature requires additional video memory from your graphics card, which can impact performance depending on your scene and computer hardware.
• Alpha texturing is supported with PNG images containing alpha transparency build into the image. For more information about using Alpha Textures, please see http://forums.cast-soft.com/index.php?threads/using-alpha-in-r38.662/.
• The Image Manager window preview will display a grey checker pattern to identify the alpha levels that are defined in the image.

Applying textures with normal mapping

Normal Map images may be applied to objects to make them appear three-dimensional without actually modifying their geometry; the perceived visual effect is that of a fragmented surface with high and low points that correctly interact with light.

Applying materials

Materials differ from textures in that they do not affect what the objects or surfaces look like, but rather how they interact with light. The result of applying a material is only apparent in renderings, as shown below.

Objects and surfaces can be assigned both a texture and a material.

You apply materials using the Appearance tab in the Object Properties window. Vivien provides an assortment of materials from which you can choose.

To apply a material to an object

1. Right-click the object to which you want to apply the material, and then choose Object Properties.

Result: The Properties window appears.

2. In the Properties window, click the Appearance tab.

3. From the Elements list box, choose the elements to which you want to apply the material. To choose a custom material for the selected elements (such as metal, paper, plastic, or fabric) click the ellipsis button (...) beside the Material box.

Result: The Material Select window appears.

Tip: When a material is highlighted in the Material Select window, a preview of the material applied to objects is displayed.

4. In the Material Select window, navigate to and highlight the desired material, and then click Select.

Result: The settings of the element will be configured so that it simulates the material.

5. If desired, you can edit the default properties of the selected element. The element options vary as follows:

• Transparency: This setting controls the proportion of light that passes through the material.
• Specular Level: This setting controls how prominent other specular effects appear on the material.
• Specular Gloss: This settings controls the level of gloss a material will project.
• Specular Color Source: This setting controls the color of light projected on a material.
• Light Reflection: This setting controls the amount of light that is reflected off the material.

Notes:

• Use the drop-down menus to change any of the material properties. Use the Reset button to revert back to defaults.
• The beam will pass through a surface with the Transparency value set to 80% or greater. The beam will not pass through the surface when the value is lower than 80%.

6. Click Apply.
7. Click OK.

Material reflections

The reflective properties of a material can be toggled to enable true reflections in Virtual Views. When enabled, the material will produce a detailed and faithful representation of everything reflected on its surface.

Attention: The number of reflective material surfaces that Vivien can support is 10. When enabling reflections on an object, note the number of surfaces that make up the object. For example, a cube has 6 sides. If an entire cube was to be reflective, it would use 6 reflective surfaces.

To apply reflections to an object (surface object or venue)

Note: The quality of reflection is based on the material properties of the object. Dull or unreflective materials will reflect poorly.

1. Right-click the object to which you want to apply the material, and then choose Object Properties.

Result: The Properties window appears.

2. In the Properties window, click the Appearance tab.
3. From the Elements list box, choose the elements of the object which you want to apply the reflection.

Note: Remember Vivien limits the number of reflective surfaces to 10.

4. In the Material Properties section, select the Display Reflection in Virtual Views checkbox.
5. Click Apply.
6. Click OK.
7. Go to Virtual View.
8. Go to Options > View Options.

Result: the View Options window appears.

9. In the View Options window, click the Simulation tab.
10. Under the Materials section, select the Enable checkbox.
11. Select the Reflections checkbox.
12. Click OK.

Result: Reflective materials will be enabled and demonstrate true reflections in Virtual View.

Applying a material to a library object element

You can apply different materials to each element of Library objects using the Appearance tab in the Properties window.

To apply a material to a Library object element

1. Right-click the library object to which you want to apply material, and then choose Object Properties.
2. Click the Appearance tab.

3. From the Elements list, select an element.
4. If a material was chosen previously, it is listed in the Material Properties box. To choose a different material, or to choose a material for the first time, click the ellipsis (...) button, and then navigate to the new material.

Note: Click Default to remove your selection and apply the default material to the element.

5. Repeat steps 4 and 5 for each element to which you want to apply materials.
6. When finished, click OK.

Quick Texture tool

You can apply the same texture and material settings to multiple objects using the Quick Texture Tool.

To use the Quick Texture tool

1. From the Tools menu, click Quick Texture.

Result: The Quick Texture Settings window appears.

• To apply a texture, click Apply Texture, and then select one of the following options: Use Layer Rendering Color, Use Custom Color, Use Texture from Library, or Use Texture from File. Complete the remaining texture options as desired.
• To apply a material, click Apply Material, and then select the material type by clicking the ellipsis button (…). Specify the transparency to use default or custom values.

2. Click OK.

Result: The Quick Texture Settings window closes and the Vivien workspace reappears. The cursor changes to a circle with a Q symbol attached, indicating that you are in Quick Tools mode.

3. Using your mouse, click on the object to which you want to apply the texture/material settings.

Result: The Quick Texture Tool’s element selection window appears.

4. From the list on the left, select the elements to which you want to apply the texture/material settings.
5. Optionally, with the elements selected, make any last-minute changes required to your texture/material settings.
6. Click OK.

Result: The texture/material settings are applied to the object.

7. Repeat steps 4 to 6 for as many objects as desired.
8. When you are finished, right-click and select Finish Quick Tools.