FDTitleDesigner UG

FDTitle Designer

Title objects creation

User’s Guide

Revision from 15 February 2006 ForwardT Software 4.0.0.

Darim Vision Co., Ltd.

Notice The information in this document is subject to change without prior notice in order to improve reliability, design, or function and does not represent a commitment on the part of this company. In no event will we be liable for direct, indirect, special, incidental, or consequential damages arising out of the use or the inability to use the product or documentation, even if advised of the possibility of such damages. Copyright © 1997 - 2005 Darim Vision Co., Ltd. All Rights Reserved. No part of this reference manual may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of this company. Throughout this manual, we make reference to product names that are trademarks of other companies. We are using these names for identification purposes only, with no intention of infringement of the trademarks. FCC Information

FCC ID: This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class B digital device, pursuant to Part 15 of the FCC Rules. These limits are designed to provide reasonable protection against harmful interference in a residential installation. This equipment generates uses and can radiate radio frequency energy and, if not installed and used in accordance with the instructions, may cause harmful interference to radio communications. However, there is no guarantee that interference will not occur in a particular installation. If this equipment does cause harmful interference to radio or television reception, which can be determined by turning the equipment off and on, the user is encouraged to try to correct the interference by one or more of the following measures:

• Reorient or relocate the receiving antenna. • Increase the separation between the equipment and receiver. • Connect the equipment into an outlet on a circuit different from that to which the receiver is connected. • Consult the dealer or an experienced radio/TV technician for help.

Shielded cables and I/O cards must be used for this equipment to comply with the relevant FCC regulations. Changes or modifications not expressly approved in writing by Darim Vision Co. Ltd. may void the user's authority to operate this equipment. Limited Warranty Our company warrants this product against defects in materials and workmanship for a period of one year from the date of purchase. During the warranty period, products determined by us to be defective in form or function will be repaired or replaced at our option, at no charge. This warranty does not apply if the product has been damaged by accident, abuse, misuse, or as a result of service or modification other than by us. This warranty is in lieu of any other warranty expressed or implied. In no event shall we be held liable for incidental or consequential damages, such as lost revenue or lost business opportunities arising from the purchase of this product.

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FDTitleDesigner. User’s Guide

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

1 INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................... 4

2 THE FDTITLEDESIGNER APPLICATION MAIN WINDOW.......................................... 5 2.1 Menus and toolbar ............................................................................................. 5

2.1.1 File menu........................................................................................................5 2.1.2 Edit menu .......................................................................................................6 2.1.3 View menu......................................................................................................6 2.1.4 Preview menu..................................................................................................6 2.1.5 Help menu ......................................................................................................7

2.2 The Elements type window ................................................................................ 7 2.3 The Objects tree window ................................................................................... 7

3 THE PROPERTIES WINDOW.................................................................................... 9 3.1 Project properties .............................................................................................. 9 3.2 Title Object (Elements group) properties......................................................... 10 3.3 Title Elements properties ................................................................................. 11

4 WORKING FIELD OF THE SCREEN......................................................................... 12 4.1 Local menu....................................................................................................... 12

5 USAGE OF THE APPLICATION............................................................................... 14

6 LAUNCHING FROM THE COMMAND LINE .............................................................. 15

7 THE TITLE ELEMENTS TYPES ................................................................................ 16

8 TITLE ELEMENTS COMMON PROPERTIES.............................................................. 17

9 PICTURE PROPERTIES.......................................................................................... 18

10 ROLLCRAWL PROPERTIES .................................................................................... 19

11 MOVIELIST PROPERTIES...................................................................................... 21 11.1 XML file structure............................................................................................. 22 11.1.1 XML scheme of the SLMovieList document structure in the XDR format .................. 23

12 ANIMLOGO PROPERTIES ...................................................................................... 25

13 CLOCK PROPERTIES ............................................................................................. 27

14 CAPTION PROPERTIES ......................................................................................... 28

15 FLASH PROPERTIES ............................................................................................. 29

16 SMS PROPERTIES................................................................................................. 30 16.1 The SMS Manager application........................................................................... 31

1 Introduction The FDTitleDesigner application is intended for creating title objects to use them later in such applications as FDOnAir, FDTitleRunTimeTest etc. The FDTitleDesigner application allows to define several rectangular regions in which various title Elements will be displayed. Several title Elements can be combined into a group that is called a title Object. Title Objects are used and controlled by other applications as a unit (start, stop, task loading). Currently the following types of title elements are available in the FDTitleDesigner application: • Caption, emerging picture, files with the *.tga, *.bmp, *.dib, *.png, *.jpg extensions. • AnimLogo, files with the *.avi extension (AVI files with or without alpha channel). • Picture, files with the *.tga, *.bmp, *.dib, *.png, *.jpg extensions. • RollCrawl – a sequence of prepared pictures (images) steadily moving vertically or horizontally

with a specified speed, these are files with the *.spt, *.tga, *.bmp, *.dib, *.png, *.jpg extensions. • MovieList – a sequence of animated movies or static pictures with a specified duration (banners)

usually displayed in the bottom part of the screen, xml files with the *.SLMovieList extension. • Configured Clock allows to display the system time on the TV monitor with such options as time

zones changing and countdown, files with the *.clc extension. • Flash – animated images, files with the *.swf extension. • SMS – a sequence of SMS.

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FDTitleDesigner. User’s Guide 2 FDTitleDesigner application main window Starting the FDTitleDesigner application opens its main window (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1. The FDTitleDesigner application main window with an opened project

This application main window contains menus, toolbar, status bar, the Elements type window with available types of title elements, the Objects tree window for controlling objects hierarchy, the selected element(s) Properties window and to the right of these – the Preview window that represents a TV screen (monitor). When a selected (created) element is current, its properties are displayed in the Properties window.

2.1 Menus and toolbar The menus and the toolbar contain a number of standard commands such as Open, Save that are typical for most applications, and also some commands that are specific for the current application. Some menu commands have corresponding buttons on the toolbar in the application main window. Below you can see menus commands with corresponding “hot keys” and buttons on the toolbar:

2.1.1 File menu This menu contains the following commands:

New project (Ctrl+N) creates a new (empty) project; Open project... (Ctrl+O) opens an existing project from the specified file; Save project (Ctrl+S) saves the current state of project to the file; Save project As... saves the current state of project to a file with a new name;

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Load Task… loads task for a selected title object;

Save Task As… saves task for selected title object; Exit (Alt+F4) exits the application.

2.1.2 Edit menu This menu contains the following commands:

Undo (Ctrl+Z) currently is not available; cancels the last action;

Redo (Ctrl+Y) currently is not available; restores the last canceled action; Cut (Ctrl+X) cuts selected element(s) from the project and copies them to the clipboard; Copy (Ctrl+C) copies selected element(s) to the clipboard; Paste (Ctrl+V) pastes element(s) from the clipboard; Del (Delete) deletes selected element(s) or title object; Select All (Ctrl+A) selects all elements in the project; Create new Title Object creates a new (empty) title object (elements group); Move Up moves selected element(s) or object(s) up in the Objects Tree and also on Z

coordinate, if it is not explicitly specified in the element properties; Move Down moves selected element(s) or object(s) down in the Objects Tree and also on Z

coordinate, if it is not explicitly specified in the element properties.

2.1.3 View menu This menu contains the following commands:

Grid displays dotted grid that is used to affix coordinates to elements;

Invisible Area marks the part of the screen potentially visible on a TV screen with a special

color.

2.1.4 Preview menu This menu contains the following commands:

Start starts previewing;

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Stop stops previewing.

2.1.5 Help menu This menu contains the following commands:

Contents is not available; Language allows to select a language of the application user interface; About… opens information dialog about the FDTitleDesigner application.

2.2 Elements type window The Elements type window (Fig. 2) contains a set of buttons with title elements registered in the system. For creating an element it is necessary to press the appropriate button in this window and then to assign with the mouse an ambient rectangle in the working field of the preview window. You can add one after another several elements of the selected type keeping the Ctrl key pressed.

Fig. 2. The Elements type window

Pressing the button in the right top corner of this window shows/hides it.

2.3 Objects tree window The Objects tree window (Fig. 3) is intended for previewing and controlling title elements and hierarchy of objects. In this window by using either the mouse or buttons on the toolbar you can create new objects (elements groups), move created elements from one group to another, name elements and objects etc. Location of an element in the Objects tree sets its location on the Z-axis. If Z coordinate is not specified in the element or object properties (the default value is 0), all the objects and elements in the window are located on Z coordinate according to the order in the objects tree. Real Z coordinate of objects corresponds to an ordinal number of objects and elements in the objects tree. At moving elements or objects in the objects tree value of Z coordinate is changed. Elements and objects in the objects tree can be moved by the mouse with the left button pressed. Every title element in the Objects tree is marked by the corresponding icon as well as in the Elements type window (Fig. 2).

Fig. 3. The Objects tree window

To make work with elements and objects more convenient, on the Objects tree toolbar there are buttons with the following functions: creates a new title object;

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deletes selected title object;

moves selected element/object up;

moves selected element/object down;

loads task for selected title object;

saves task for selected title object.

The last two buttons become available only when a title object contains more than one element. If title object contains one title element, the object’s task is the one for this element specified in the properties window in the FileName field. If an object contains two or more elements, it is saved under a new name. Pressing the button opens the task saving dialog, an object is saved with the *.FileName.SLTitleTsk extension. The button allows to load a task for a title object with the help of the system file opening dialog. Pressing the button in the right top corner of this window shows/hides it.

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FDTitleDesigner. User’s Guide 3 The Properties window The Properties window (Fig. 4) allows to view and edit parameters of the entire Project or its selected element or object. Each property contains Name, Type (integer, fractional, enumeration, string etc.) and concrete Value of the property. The common properties of the title Project and Object are described below.

3.1 Project properties The Properties (parameters) window of Project allows to adjust the current project settings and preview parameters. To adjust the project properties it is necessary to left-click an empty place in the working field. The Project properties window is shown in Fig. 4, and the table with the Project properties (parameters) is presented below.

Fig. 4. Project properties

Property name Description Type Limits/Value Value by default

TV Standard TV standard that sets working field sizes and frame rate

Enumeration PAL 720x576 NTSC 720x480 PALHALF 352x576 NTSCHALF352x480

PAL720x576

Draw on Preview

Sets the way of displaying ambient rectangles, dotted grid and invisible area at previewing

Enumeration Yes No

Yes

Back color Sets background color of working area at editing

Color Four integers divided by semicolon or a color name

DarkSlateGray

Draw Invisible Area

Sets the way of displaying invisible area of the screen

Enumeration Yes No

Yes

Invisible Area Percent

Sets the size of invisible area of the screen in percents

Integer From 0% to 20% 5%

Draw Grid Sets displaying dot grid of title elements sizes affixing

Enumeration Yes No

Yes

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Invisible Area color

Sets color of invisible area at editing

Color Four integers divided by semicolon or a color name

128; 0; 100; 0

Grid Size Sets size of alignment grid

Two integers Alignment grid must be divisible by 16 vertically and by 2 horizontally

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3.2 Object (Elements group) properties Parameters of the selected title Object can be edited in its Properties window. The Object properties window is shown in the Fig. 5. The properties (parameters) of title Object are listed in the table below.

Property name

Description Type Limits/Value Value by default

Base Z order Base Z coordinate of title object

Integer If its value is 0, it is allotted automatically with the pitch equal 100. Any other value (including negative) – is Absolute in the entire project (must be unique)

0

Real Z order Real base value of Z coordinate

Integer A read-only property. It is specified at start of previewing

No

Name User-defined object name String Characters string that is unique in the project

No

Fig. 5. Object properties

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FDTitleDesigner. User’s Guide 3.3 Title Elements properties The title Element Properties window allows to adjust parameters of a selected title Element. Each type of title elements has a set of properties that describe state and behavior of a certain title Element, for example the RollCrawl properties (Fig. 6). Properties of all title element types are described in more detail in the following sections.

Fig. 6. RollCroll properties

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4 Working field of the screen The working field (Fig. 7) represents a virtual TV screen on which title elements are located. Its size is determined by the selected TV standard (for PAL/SECAM – 720x576, for NTSC – 720x480). Invisible area (that is not visible on an ordinary TV screen) and dotted grid of snapping elements can be displayed on the screen; the invisible area is indicated with a special color. Ambient elements regions are also displayed in the working field.

Attention! Elements coordinates must be divisible by 2 vertically and by 16 horizontally!

Fig. 7. The working field of the screen

To create an Element, perform the following steps: 1. Select a type of element in the Elements type window by pressing the corresponding button

(see 2.2). 2. To define an ambient element region by the mouse with its left button pressed. You can create

several elements of selected type (to assign several ambient rectangles in the working field) keeping the Ctrl key pressed.

3. After the mouse button is released, an element with the default settings is created in the assigned rectangle. Its parameters can be adjusted in the Properties window (see 3).

4. The element can be moved, its size can be changed. To select several elements at once, left-click the required elements keeping Ctrl pressed. The created elements group can be moved within the limits of the screen. There is another way to select several elements: draw a rectangle on the screen with the mouse left button. All the elements within the limits of the rectangle are selected. If some elements overlap, left-click the overlapping elements several times keeping the Alt pressed to select them in turns.

4.1 Local menu A right click on the screen field opens the local menu. This menu contains the following commands:

Cut (Ctrl+X) cuts selected element(s) and copies them to the clipboard; Copy (Ctrl+C) copies selected element(s) to the clipboard; Paste (Ctrl+V)

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pastes element(s) from the clipboard; Del (Del) deletes selected element(s); Select All (Ctrl+A) selects all elements in the project.

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5 Usage of the application A typical session of work with the FDTitleDesigner application is described below. 1. Select the required TV standard (PAL, NTSC) in the Properties parameters group after the

application start. 2. Select the required type of element from the Elements type window. 3. Define an ambient element rectangle with the mouse with left button pressed. Keeping the Ctrl

key pressed it is possible to create several elements of the selected type (to define ambient rectangles in the working field) with the mouse.

4. In the Properties window you can specify the required parameters, for example: • FileName (for all objects); • Speed; • Direction etc.

5. Repeat the actions from item 2 through item 4 several times if necessary. 6. In the Objects tree window with the help of the Create new Title Object button a new

object is created and in the Properties window it is named. 7. With the help of the Move currently selected objects up/down / buttons or with the

mouse you can change the order of title elements and objects in the Objects tree window. 8. Repeat the actions from item 2 through item 7 several times if necessary. 9. Pressing the Start Preview button on the toolbar in the main window allows to preview the

created object in the Preview window.

10. Pressing the Stop button on the toolbar in the main window stops previewing. 11. After all objects are created, save the prepared project to a file using the Save Project As…

option in the File menu. It is possible to move elements and change their sizes with the mouse. Having the Ctrl key pressed, select several elements with the mouse and move them together. A right click on any empty place on the screen (where there are no title elements) opens the local menu. In the Elements type window element types installed in the system and available to use are displayed. In the Objects tree window you can group Elements. Each group is called title Object and has its own name. Title Object is used and controlled as a unit (start/stop). Title Object can consist of one or more title Elements. For example, for the FDOnAir application it is necessary to create several title objects such as Picture, AnimLogo, RollCrawl etc. In the Properties window properties of a selected title element, title objects or the entire project if nothing is selected are displayed. The Properties list depends on the type of a certain element and determines its behavior at playback.

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FDTitleDesigner. User’s Guide 6 Launching from the command line The FDTitleDesigner application supports launching from the command line. C:\Program Files\ForwardT Software\FDTitle\FDTitleDesigner.exe Adding “/?” or “/help/?” to the full path to the application in the command line (for example C:\Program Files\ForwardT Software\FDTitle\FDTitleDesigner.exe /?) opens the information window (Fig. 8).

Fig. 8. Information window

There is a list of available command line switches of the FDTitleDesigner application in this window. To open the application with an existing project, the command line should contain the full path to the application and the project file name with the full path to it. C:\Program Files\ForwardT Software\FDTitle\FDTitleDesigner.exe /file “C:\Program Files\ForwardT Software\FDTitle\FDTitle Examples/PAL.SLTitleProj”

If file name contains spaces, it must be specified in quotes!

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7 Title Elements types As it was mentioned, the following types of title elements are currently available in the FDTitleDesigner application: • Picture, files with the *.tga, *.bmp, *.dib, *.png, *.jpg extensions. • AnimLogo, files with the *.avi extension. • RollCrawl – a sequence of prepared pictures (images) steadily moving vertically or horizontally

with a specified speed, these are files with the *.spt, *.tga, *.bmp, *.dib, *.png, *.jpg extensions. • MovieList – a sequence of animated movies or static pictures (banners) with a specified duration

usually displayed in the bottom part of the screen, xml files with the *.SLMovieList extension. • Configured Clock allows to display the system time on the TV monitor with such options as time

zones changing and countdown, files with the *.clc extension. • Caption, emerging picture, files with the *.tga, *.bmp, *.dib, *.png, *.jpg extensions. • Flash – animated images, files with the *.swf extension. • SMS – a sequence of SMS. Each type of title element has a set of properties that describe its state and behavior. The Properties list is displayed in the Properties window (see 3). Each property contains Name, Type (integer, fractional, enumeration, string etc.) and particular Value. At creating an Element, all the properties values are set by default; these values can be changed. The whole properties set can be divided into two parts: 1. Common properties – properties for all title element types such as Name, Location, etc. 2. Properties that describe a state of a certain title element type, for example, movement Direction

for the RollCrawl element or Movement time for the Caption element.

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FDTitleDesigner. User’s Guide 8 Title Elements common properties The title elements common properties are presented in the table below.

Property name

Description Property type

Limits/Value Value by default

Type Element type String Name of element type; read-only.

No

Name User-defined name of Element

String Text string that is unique in a project

None

Location The left top point of the ambient element rectangle on the TV screen

Two integers

Location is limited by the TV screen size in pixels: 720х576 (PAL) or 720х480 (NTSC)

Is specified at element creation

Size Size of ambient element rectangle on the TV screen

Two integers

Size is limited by the TV screen in pixels: 720х576 (PAL) or 720х480 (NTSC)

Is specified at element creation

Z Order Region location on Z coordinate

Integer If its value is 0, it is allotted automatically relative to base Z coordinate in group with the pitch equal 1. Any other value (including negative) is Absolute value in the entire project (must be unique)

0

Assigned Z Order

Real region location on Z coordinate

Integer A read-only property. It is specified at start of previewing

No

Alpha Element transparency value Integer From 0 to 255 0 – completely transparent 255 – completely opaque

255

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9 Picture properties The Picture title element allows to display a picture which is a graphics file. Files with the *.tga, *.bmp, *.dib, *.png, *.jpg extensions are supported. It is usually used to display a static logotype in any corner of the TV screen. As well as the other types of elements, the Picture title element has a set of common properties and a set of specific properties listed in the table below.


FileName Shows logotype file name File name on the computer disk

Files with the *.tga, *.bmp, *.dib, *.png, *.jpg extensions

None

Align and Stretch

Alignment and stretching. At alignment and stretching to the screen size only the part of the picture that is in the assigned rectangle is displayed

Enumeration to Rectangle to Screen

to Rectangle

H. Alignment Sets horizontal alignment of the picture

Enumeration Center Left Right

Center

V. Alignment Sets vertical alignment of the picture

Enumeration Center Top Bottom

Center

Stretch Stretching of a picture to the element or screen size

Enumeration None Entire Image Keep AspectRatio Entire Image by fields Keep AspectRatio by fields

None

AutoSize Enables automatic region size changing according to the picture size

Enumeration Yes No

Yes

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FDTitleDesigner. User’s Guide 10 RollCrawl properties The RollCrawl title element allows to display a sequence of pictures continuously moving in selected direction with specified speed. A graphics file with the *.tga, *.bmp, *.dib, *.png, *.jpg extensions or an SPT file that contains a list of graphics files prepared in a special way can be used as a task for this title element. SPT files are created and previewed in the SPTEditor application. As other types of elements the RollCrawl title element has a set of common properties and a set of specific properties that are listed in the table below:


FileName Shows animated logotype file name

File name on the computer disk

Files with the *.spt, *.tga, *.bmp, *.dib, *.png, *.jpg extensions

None

Loop Task looping Enumeration Yes, No No



Center



Center

Speed Object movement speed in pixels per frame

Real number From 0 to 20 5

Direction Sets direction of rollcrawl movement

Enumeration Up, Down, Left, Right

Left


Enumeration Yes, No Yes

Note that maximum duration of one announcement displayed in RollCrawl should not exceed the minimum time of displaying titles – a period between the Title On and Title Off commands.

Fig. 9. The schedule with titles in the FDOnAir application

In Fig. 9 there is an example of the titles presentation schedule. Displaying duration of the first available fragment from the LG mart.mp2 file is 20 seconds, and the second fragment from the ManuDanceFRWD.avi file is 10 seconds. Total time of titles displaying equals to the sum of these fragments durations, i.e. 20 sec + 10 sec = 30 sec. Thus in this case the banner displaying duration should not exceed 30 seconds.

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Time of one announcement displaying in RollCrawl is calculated according to the following formula: T (sec) = [Announcement width (pix) + Region width (pix)] / [speed of playback in region (pix/frame) x Frame rate (frame/sec)]

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FDTitleDesigner. User’s Guide 11 MovieList properties The Movie List title element allows to display a sequence of small animated movies or static pictures (banners) with specified duration, usually in the bottom part of the screen. As well as the other types of elements, the MovieList title element has a set of common and specific properties that are listed in the table below.


FileName Shows name of text file with commands list


Files with the *.SLMovieList extension

None

Loop Task looping Enumeration Yes, No No

Align and Stretch



to Rectangle



Center



Center



None



DefDuration Sets the default duration of displaying announcements in schedule

Integer Value in frames 100

DefFadeIn Sets the default duration of the initial fade between displayed announcements


DefFadeOut Sets the default duration of the final fade between displayed announcements


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Important: to reduce the processor load at playing back full-screen movies and pictures with transparent parts, it is recommended to assign a region so that it encompasses only the opaque image, but not the entire screen. This requires to select the mode of alignment and stretching of the movie “to screen” (see the following example).

Consider the example (Fig. 10). A file with a full-screen movie is ready for playback. The image size saved in the file is 720 x 576 pixels. At the same time the opaque part of image takes only a small area with the size 512 x 64 pixels in the bottom center part of the screen. The rest part of the screen is transparent. To play back this movie with the help of the Movie List title element it is recommended to assign a region in the way when its location and size are coincided with the opaque part of the movie. It means to locate a region with the size 512 x 64 pixels in the bottom center part of the screen (instead of assigning a region with the size 720 x 576 pixels encompassing the entire full-screen image), to set the mode of alignment and stretching of the movie “to screen”, horizontal alignment – “center”, vertical alignment – “bottom”. At respecting these recommendations the processor resources will be used only to play back a part of the image encompassed by the region. And it will noticeably reduce the load on the processor.

Fig. 10. Selecting the opaque part of image from AVI file

A list of announcements (commands) presented in an XML file with the *.SLMovieList extension is used as a task for Movie List. Such list can be created in the FDMovieListEditor application (see user’s guide). Besides, it is possible to create macros or other applications that can automatically generate XML task file.

11.1 XML file structure The xml file structure has the following form: <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16" standalone="yes"?> <movieList xmlns="http://x-schema:movieListSchema" TCF="sec"> <image duration="5.08" fadeIn="1"> <value>BABY_G.tga</value> </image> <movie fadeIn="0.2" fadeOut="0.08"> <value>TorSmall.avi</value> </movie> <image duration="10.08" fadeIn="1">

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FDTitleDesigner. User’s Guide <value>CAPITAN.tga</value> </image> <movie fadeIn="0.32" fadeOut="0.08"> <value>Tor.avi</value> </movie> <pause duration="2"/> <image duration="5.08" fadeIn="1"> <value>egor1.tga</value> </image> </movieList>

For more details about the XML language, see http://w3.org/XML. Before the commands list there is necessarily general information about the file, in particular, time registration format. Duration is indicated in the TCF= "sec" format (in seconds with floating point). File contains the following command types for the image, movie and pause elements: • <image duration="5.08" fadeIn="1" fadeOut="0.5">

<value>BABY_G.tga</value> </image> Static picture with duration of 5.08 sec and initial fades durations on 1 sec and final fade duration on 0.5 sec, the filename is BABY_G.tga. • <movie fadeIn="0.2" fadeOut="0.08">

<value>TorSmall.avi</value> </movie> Small animated movie with fades durations on 0.2 sec and 0.08 sec, file with the TorSmall.avi name. • <pause duration="2"/> –pause with duration on 2 sec, where:

duration="10.08" – duration of displayed element or pause (in seconds with floating point), fadeIn="1" – initial fade duration in the file (in seconds with floating point), fadeOut="0.08" – final fade duration in the file (in seconds with floating point), <value>CAPITAN.tga</value> – file name.

Commands for different elements playback contain different attributes. For example, commands for the movie element do not contain the duration attribute, and the pause command contains the duration attribute only. If the duration, fadeIn, fadeOut attributes are not specified, then the corresponding values are taken from the MovieList title object settings from the application main window.

11.1.1 XML scheme of the SLMovieList document structure in the XDR format The XML scheme of the SLMovieList document structure in the XML Data-Reduced (XDR) format is submitted below. <?xml version="1.0"?> <Schema name="http://x-schema:movieListSchema" xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:xml-data" xmlns:dt="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:datatypes"> <AttributeType name="fadeIn" dt:type="float"/> <AttributeType name="fadeOut" dt:type="float"/> <AttributeType name="duration" dt:type="float"/> <AttributeType name="TCF" dt:type="enumeration" dt:values="sec ms"/> <ElementType name="value" dt:type="string"/> <ElementType name="image" model="closed"> <element type="value"/> <attribute type="fadeIn"/> <attribute type="fadeOut"/> <attribute type="duration"/> </ElementType>

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http://w3.org/XML

<ElementType name="movie" model="closed"> <element type="value"/> <attribute type="fadeIn"/> <attribute type="fadeOut"/> </ElementType> <ElementType name="pause" model="closed"> <attribute type="duration"/> </ElementType> <ElementType name="movieList" model="closed"> <element type="image" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="*"/> <element type="movie" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="*"/> <element type="pause" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="*"/> <attribute type="TCF"/> </ElementType> </Schema>

For more details about the XML language, see http://w3.org/XML. The description of the XDR format can be found at the address: http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/xmlsdk/html/xsdrefxmldatatypes_reference.asp.

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http://w3.org/XML

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/xmlsdk/html/xsdrefxmldatatypes_reference.asp

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/xmlsdk/html/xsdrefxmldatatypes_reference.asp

FDTitleDesigner. User’s Guide 12 AnimLogo properties The AnimLogo title element allows to display a small movie with transparency from an AVI file. It is usually used to display animated logotype in any corner of the screen. As well as the other types of elements, the AnimLogo title element has a set of common and specific properties that are listed in the table below:




Files with the *.avi extension

None

Loop Task looping Enumeration Yes, No Yes

Align and Stretch



to Rectangle



Center



Center



None

AutoSize Enables automatic region size changing according to the animated logotype size


Important: to reduce the processor load at playing back full-screen movies and pictures with transparent parts, it is recommended to assign a region so that it encompasses only the opaque image, but not the entire screen. This requires to select the mode of alignment and stretching of the movie “to screen” (see the example above, section 11, Fig. 10).

Note that maximum duration of one announcement displayed in RollCrawl should not exceed the minimum time of displaying titles – a period between the Title On and Title Off commands.

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Fig. 11. The schedule with titles in the FDOnAir application

In Fig. 11 there is an example of the titles presentation schedule. Displaying duration of the first available fragment from the LG mart.mp2 file is 20 seconds, and the second fragment from the ManuDanceFRWD.avi file is 10 seconds. Total time of titles displaying equals to the sum of these fragments durations, i.e. 20 sec + 10 sec = 30 sec. Thus in this case the banner displaying duration should not exceed 30 seconds.

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FDTitleDesigner. User’s Guide 13 Clock properties The Clock title element allows to display the computer system time on the TV monitor with such options as time zones changing and countdown. Clock uses the *.clc files created in the TVClockDesigner application. The clock image can be both analog as a clock dial with hands and digital as electronic clock.


FileName Shows clock file name File name on the computer disk

Files with the *.clc extension

None

Align and Stretch

Alignment and stretching. At alignment and stretching to the screen size only a part of the picture that is in the assigned rectangle is displayed


to Rectangle



Center



Center



None



Clock direction Sets clock movement direction

Enumeration Forward Forward from specified time Forward with offset Back stop Back and hide Back forever

Forward

Start time for countdown clock

Initial time for the clock going back

Time hh:mm:ss No

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14 Caption Properties The Caption title element displays an emerging picture with transparency from a graphics file. Files with the *.tga, *.bmp, *.dib, *.png, *.jpg extensions are supported. It is usually used as an emerging remark. As well as the other types of elements, the Caption title element has a set of common and specific properties that are listed in the table below. In the current version of the application picture moving in/out is available. In the future versions addition of other title element effects is planned.




Files with the *.tga, *.bmp, *.dib, *.png, *.jpg extensions

None


Direction Sets caption movement direction (to)

Enumeration Left, Right Up, Down

Left

The time of movement in seconds

Caption movement time (in seconds)


Rest time Time of caption being in static position (in seconds)


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FDTitleDesigner. User’s Guide 15 Flash Properties The Flash title element is intended for displaying animated images created using the Flash technology – files in the Shockwave Flash (*.swf) format. The Flash properties are listed in the table below. Property name Description Type Limits/Value Value by

default

FileName Shows animated image file name


Files with the *.swf extension

None


Quality Sets quality level of file playback

Enumeration High Normal Low

High

Background Support of displaying color transparency of object’s filling and outlines that were specified at file creating

Enumeration Opaque Transparent

Opaque

For using the Flash title element it is necessary to have the SWF files player (Macromedia Flash Player of 7 or 8 version) installed on the used computer. The Flash player package can be found at the address: http://www.adobe.com/products/flashplayer.

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http://www.adobe.com/products/flashplayer

16 SMS Properties The SMS title element is intended for displaying SMS on the screen (Fig. 12). With the help of this element a region in which SMS lines will be displayed is defined.

Fig. 12. Example of working with the SMS title element

The SMS properties allows to set displaying duration, design style and interval between message lines on the screen. To set SMS messages design style, it is necessary to specify the name of the file that contains corresponding styles collection. Styles collections are created in the Forward Titling application and saved in files with the .efc extension (see the Forward Titling User’s Guide for more details). At preparing an SMS message for display, a style allowing to fit the required SMS text into the assigned region is automatically selected from the collection. When creating SMS styles collection, it is necessary to consider this circumstance and to provide styles with different font sizes. The SMS properties are submitted in the table below.


FileName Shows name of styles collection file


Files with the *.efc extention

None

Duration Duration of one message displaying in frames

Integer From 1 to 90000 125

Fade duration Fade duration at the beginning and at the end of the message displaying in frames

Integer From 1 to 250 10

Text interval Interval between message lines in percentage (relative to the type size)

Integer От 10 до 300 130

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FDTitleDesigner. User’s Guide A task for the SMS title element is a sequence of SMS messages. Flow of messages is controlled by an external application that uses a set of COM interfaces to interact with title element. User can create his own application to control messages using COM components supplied by the developers, or use the SMS Manager application.

To receive COM components necessary for creating a controlling application, address to the ForwardT Software developers.

The SMS Manager application is not included in the standard ForwardT Software package. For additional information about the SMS Manager application, apply to the ForwardT Software developers.

16.1 The SMS Manager application The SMS Manager application is intended for organizing messages transmission to the SMS title element. As a task for the SMS title element a set of text files with the *.sms extension is used. Each file of this type contains a text of one SMS message. One folder on the computer disk corresponds to one set of the SMS files and consequently to one task. Files are transmitted to this folder from an external data source, for example from an SMS chat database. The order of receiving files in the folder determines the SMS order in the title element. File that has been already processed is deleted from the folder. The SMS Manager application allows to establish a connection between folder with massages text files and a certain SMS element, to launch the procedure of data broadcasting and to control the task execution. To start the SMS Manager application, launch the SMSManager.exe file. The SMS Manager application main window contains three controls groups.

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Fig. 13. The SMS Manager application main window

The Settings controls group is intended for specifying the messages source folder, title element displaying messages and parameter of messages texts correction. In the Connect to object with name text field it is necessary to specify name of SMS title element with the help of which SMS lines displaying will be carried out. The Get messages from folder text field is intended for specifying the folder on the computer disk in which messages are saved. To select the folder you can press the

button to the right of this field. Pressing this button opens a system browsing dialog. In the Trim text before text field you can specify line of characters that will be used at messages texts editing. Such line can contain one or several characters. At editing a message that contains such line, a part of the text from the beginning to this line inclusively is deleted. In the Received SMS messages controls group there is a text field, the Status bar and the Start/Stop button. Texts of messages placed in the waiting list for the processing are displayed in the text field. The Start/Stop button starts/stops messages transmission procedure. Messages are transmitted only when the SMS title element is active. To comply with this condition in case of working with the FDTitleDesigner application, it is necessary to switch the application to the previewing mode. The Status bar contains two fields. One of them displays the current time and the other shows a message about the file transmission status at the moment. A list of available status messages and their descriptions is submitted below.

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Message text Description Message sent OK Message is ready for displaying and transmitted to the SMS title

element

No running object with name: object_name

The SMS title element with specified name is not activated. For example, it can happen if a project with this title element is used by the FDTitleDesigner application in the editing mode. It can also happen when a project in which there is no SMS title element with specified name is loaded to the FDOnAir application by mistake.

No messages in queue In the SMS files source folder there are no files with messages

Object busy The SMS title element is processing previous messages. At title project playback in the FDOnAir application, this message may mean that the title object with the specified name is disabled and SMS messages are not broadcast

The Prepared SMS messages controls group is intended for displaying sms that are prepared for playback and sms that have been already broadcast. In the text field messages texts are displayed. With the help of the Remember last messages list the number of displayed messages is specified. Pressing the Clear button clears the text field with the information about messages that are prepared for playback.

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Date post:	30-Oct-2014
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