The information in this document is subject to change without notice and does not represent a
commitment on the part of ArKaos PRO S.A. No part of this publication may be copied,
reproduced or otherwise transmitted or recorded, for any purpose, without prior written
permission by ArKaos PRO S.A.
All product and company names are ™ or © trademarks of their respective owners.
© ArKaos PRO S.A. 2018.
All rights reserved.
Table of Contents
ArKaos PRO Software License ............................................................ 9
GNU Lesser General Public License ................................................. 13
Introduction ......................................................................................... 16
Welcome to MediaMaster Version 5! .................................................... 16
Documentation ............................................................................................. 16
Express vs Pro ............................................................................................. 16
Installing the software - PC ................................................................... 17
Installing the software - Mac ................................................................. 17
About your license ................................ ................................ .............. 18
Activating your software........................................................................ 18
Software Activation Dialog ........................................................................... 18
About the Demo Mode ................................................................................. 18
Use Activation Code ................................................................ ..................... 19
Activate License Dongle ............................................................................... 19
Use Serial Key File ....................................................................................... 21
Introduction to the software ............................................................... 22
Control Concepts ................................................................................... 22
Theater Mode interface ................................................................................ 22
Fixture Mode interface.................................................................................. 22
Features Summary: ................................................................................ 23
Outputs ........................................................................................................ 23
Visual Presets – Theater Mode interface ...................................................... 23
Media Management (Express and Pro) ........................................................ 23
Layers – Theater Mode ................................................................................ 24
Software Interface Overview .............................................................. 25
Theater Mode interface .......................................................................... 25
Key features ................................................................................................. 25
Fixture Mode interface – MediaMaster Pro ........................................... 26
Key features ................................................................................................. 26
Full Screen Output ................................................................................. 26
Connecting an External Controller .................................................... 27
Setting up DMX Control ......................................................................... 27
Using ArtNet................................................................................................. 27
MSEX implementation (Pro edition only) ...................................................... 27
Support for grandMA MA-Net (Windows Only) ............................................. 27
Using an Enttec DMX USB Pro device ......................................................... 28
Setting up an Enttec DMX USB Pro device on a PC ...................................................28
Setting up an Enttec DMX USB Pro device on a Mac OSX .........................................29
Setting up MIDI Control.......................................................................... 29
Using the Software – Theater Mode................................................... 30
The main window ................................................................................... 30
Layer Previews ............................................................................................ 30
Layer Preview Customization ....................................................................... 31
Master Output ............................................................................................... 32
Master output controls .................................................................................................. 32
Masks (Instant mode only) ........................................................................................... 32
Keystoning (Instant mode only) .................................................................................... 33
Soft Edging (Instant mode only) ................................................................................... 33
Status indicators ........................................................................................... 33
Visual Preset and Preset Patch .................................................................... 34
Patch Selection............................................................................................................. 35
Latch Toggle ................................................................................................................. 35
Managing Patch and Visual presets (Copy, Paste, Edit,..) .......................................... 35
Show Settings......................................................................................... 36
DMX channels .............................................................................................. 36
Trigger Channels: ......................................................................................................... 36
Parameter Channels: ................................................................................................... 36
Patch Selector Channel:............................................................................................... 36
Patch Display offset Channel: ...................................................................................... 36
Brightness Channel ...................................................................................................... 36
Contrast Channel ......................................................................................................... 36
Master volume channel ................................................................................................ 36
MIDI controllers and notes ............................................................................ 37
Trigger Controllers: ....................................................................................................... 37
Trigger Notes: ............................................................................................................... 37
Parameter Controllers: ................................................................................................. 37
Patch Selector Controllers: .......................................................................................... 37
Patch Display offset Controllers: .................................................................................. 37
Brightness Controller: ................................................................................................... 37
Contrast Controller: ...................................................................................................... 37
Master volume Controller: ............................................................................................ 37
Keyboard shortcuts ....................................................................................... 38
Toggle Latch: ................................................................................................................ 38
Edit parameters for visual presets ........................................................ 38
Visual / Playback .......................................................................................... 39
Loop Mode .................................................................................................................... 39
Speed/Timecode: ......................................................................................................... 39
Loop In / Loop Out / Start Point .................................................................................... 39
Effect Configuration ...................................................................................... 39
Triggers: ....................................................................................................... 40
KEY............................................................................................................................... 40
DMX .............................................................................................................................. 40
MIDI .............................................................................................................................. 40
Position Parameters ..................................................................................... 40
Presets ......................................................................................................................... 40
Shapes ......................................................................................................................... 40
Auto Rotate ................................................................................................................... 41
Mixing Parameters ........................................................................................ 41
Max. Transparency ....................................................................................................... 41
Color Levels (Red/Green/Blue): ................................................................................... 42
Hue ............................................................................................................................... 42
Saturation ..................................................................................................................... 42
Lightness ...................................................................................................................... 42
Copy Mode ................................................................................................................... 42
Mask Mode – Chroma / Luminance Key ...................................................................... 43
Mask Centre ................................................................................................................. 43
Mask Size .....................................................................................................................43
Fade Time .....................................................................................................................43
Tiling .............................................................................................................................43
The Cue Player ....................................................................................... 44
Overview ...................................................................................................... 44
Getting started ............................................................................................. 44
The Cue Player interface .............................................................................. 45
The Toolbar ..................................................................................................................45
The Cue List .................................................................................................................45
Cue Selection ...............................................................................................................45
Adding a Cue ................................................................................................................45
Cue List Playback .........................................................................................................46
Properties Panel ...........................................................................................................46
Cue Properties ............................................................................................. 46
Main Tab .......................................................................................................................46
Cue List Properties ....................................................................................... 47
Cue List Tab .................................................................................................................47
Synchronization Modes ................................................................................ 47
Priority Layers .............................................................................................. 47
Halt cues ...................................................................................................... 47
Demo cue list ............................................................................................... 48
Advanced Topics.......................................................................................... 48
Reference Cue..............................................................................................................48
Freerun Cue ..................................................................................................................48
Mixing of Multiple Cues ................................................................................................48
Cue Player DMX, MIDI and Keyboard Controls ............................................ 49
DMX Chart Extension ...................................................................................................49
MIDI Chart Extension ...................................................................................................50
Keyboard Shortcuts ......................................................................................................50
Using the software – Fixture Mode .................................................... 51
The main window ................................................................................... 51
Previews area .............................................................................................. 51
Master output area ................................ ....................................................... 51
Status Indicators .......................................................................................... 51
Layer parameter area ................................................................................... 52
Visuals ..........................................................................................................................52
Effects ...........................................................................................................................52
Playback .......................................................................................................................53
Composition Modes ......................................................................................................54
Mapping ........................................................................................................................55
Position .........................................................................................................................55
Output ...........................................................................................................................55
Color .............................................................................................................................55
Cropping .......................................................................................................................56
Sound ...........................................................................................................................56
Media Types ......................................................................................... 57
Video ....................................................................................................... 57
Alpha source support ................................................................................... 57
Images ..................................................................................................... 57
Audio ....................................................................................................... 57
Generators .............................................................................................. 58
Effects ..................................................................................................... 58
Cameras / External Sources .................................................................. 58
Libraries ............................................................................................... 59
Library Management .............................................................................. 59
Overview and Library Concept ...................................................................... 59
Root Folder................................................................................................... 59
Media Folders and Naming Conventions ...................................................... 59
Building your libraries ........................................................................... 61
Adding visuals to the library .......................................................................... 62
Removing visuals from the library ................................................................. 62
Moving visuals in the library .......................................................................... 62
Renaming folders ......................................................................................... 62
File system ................................................................................................... 62
Changing the root folder ............................................................................... 63
Text Library ............................................................................................. 64
Lyrics Player ........................................................................................... 64
Timecode offsets .................................................................................... 65
Preferences Dialog ............................................................................. 66
Application Tab ...................................................................................... 66
Mode (MediaMaster Pro only) ....................................................................... 66
Server Name ................................................................................................ 66
Activate fullscreen at startup ......................................................................... 66
Start maximized ............................................................................................ 66
Autostart cue list ........................................................................................... 66
Output Tab .............................................................................................. 66
Instant mode ................................................................................................ . 67
Full screen Display ....................................................................................... 67
Resolution .................................................................................................... 67
Multi-Display arrangement (Windows only) ................................................... 67
Soft Edge Span ............................................................................................ 68
Geometric correction & Soft-Edge per output (MediaMaster Pro) .................. 68
Geometric correction .................................................................................................... 68
Soft Edge per Output .................................................................................................... 70
Test grid and pattern .................................................................................................... 70
Video Mapper mode (MediaMaster Pro) ....................................................... 71
Hide mouse cursor in fullscreen (Mac only) .................................................. 71
Kling-Net ...................................................................................................... 71
LED Mapper ................................................................................................. 71
Engine Accuracy........................................................................................... 71
Timing Reference ......................................................................................... 72
DMX Tab .................................................................................................. 73
DMX Interface .............................................................................................. 73
Patch (Fixture mode only) ................................ ............................................. 74
Auto-Patch (Fixture mode only) .................................................................... 74
MIDI Tab (Theater mode only) ............................................................... 74
Audio Tab ................................................................................................ 75
Driver Type .................................................................................................. 75
Input Device ................................................................ ................................. 75
Output Device .............................................................................................. 75
Buffer Size ................................................................................................... 75
Hardware setup (Windows only) ................................................................... 75
Performances Tab .................................................................................. 76
Preview quality ............................................................................................. 76
Preview style ................................................................................................ 76
Flash Frame Rate Factor ............................................................................. 76
Activation Tab ........................................................................................ 77
Application Menus .............................................................................. 78
File ........................................................................................................... 78
Edit .......................................................................................................... 78
Display .................................................................................................... 78
Help ......................................................................................................... 79
Wide-screen & Multi-screen presentation ......................................... 80
Introduction ............................................................................................ 80
Definitions ............................................................................................... 80
Wide screen ................................................................ ................................. 80
Multi-screen ................................................................................................. 81
Case studies ........................................................................................... 81
Case 1: Dual head graphic card ................................................................... 81
Case 2: Dual head graphic card + single head graphic card ......................... 82
Case 3: Dual head graphic card + additional hardware ................................ 82
Other possible combinations ........................................................................ 82
Wide-screen or multi-screen projection – Setup ................................. 82
Monitors setup under Windows .................................................................... 82
Monitors setup under Mac OS X .................................................................. 84
Soft-Edge ................................ ................................ ............................. 85
Introduction ............................................................................................ 85
Soft-Edge in Instant Mode ..................................................................... 86
Calibration .............................................................................................. 87
Soft-Edge in VideoMapper Mode........................................................... 87
Calibration .............................................................................................. 88
VideoMapper ........................................................................................ 89
Concept ................................................................................................... 89
Hardware setup ...................................................................................... 89
Mapping workflow overview .................................................................. 89
VideoMapper application ................................................................ ....... 90
Interface overview ................................................................ ........................ 90
Toolbar ..........................................................................................................................90
Mapping Setup..............................................................................................................90
Sources .........................................................................................................................90
Surface Editor ...............................................................................................................90
Inspectors .....................................................................................................................90
Toolbar options ................................................................ ............................ 91
Setting up displays ....................................................................................... 91
Display corrections ....................................................................................... 93
Setting up surfaces ....................................................................................... 94
Masks ........................................................................................................................... 96
Cropping ....................................................................................................................... 96
Visual Sources.............................................................................................................. 97
Export and Import of Mapping Files ............................................................................. 97
Key Bindings................................................................................................................. 98
Output management in MediaMaster Pro ............................................. 99
Groups .......................................................................................................................... 99
DMX (Fixture mode only) ............................................................................................. 99
MediaHub ........................................................................................... 100
Concept ................................................................................................. 100
Getting Started ..................................................................................... 100
User Interface ....................................................................................... 100
Toolbar ....................................................................................................... 101
Left and Right Server Panels ...................................................................... 101
Synchronization Buttons ................................ ................................ ............. 101
Preferences ................................................................................................ 101
Transfers .................................................................................................... 102
Installer ....................................................................................................... 102
Troubleshooting .......................................................................................... 102
Firewall ....................................................................................................................... 102
Software Compatibility Issues .................................................................................... 102
Pixel Mapping over Kling-Net .......................................................... 103
Concepts ............................................................................................... 103
Hardware setup .................................................................................... 104
Mapping workflow overview ................................................................ 104
Kling-Net Mapper application .............................................................. 106
Overview .................................................................................................... 106
Connected Nodes ....................................................................................... 106
Connected Devices .................................................................................... 107
Mapped Objects ......................................................................................... 107
The canvas ................................................................................................. 107
Dividing and Splitting .................................................................................. 108
Dividing ....................................................................................................................... 108
Splitting ....................................................................................................................... 108
Output Selection ......................................................................................... 109
Test Pattern ................................................................................................................ 109
Screen Grabber .......................................................................................................... 109
MediaMaster ............................................................................................................... 109
Templates .................................................................................................. 110
Draft Devices .............................................................................................. 111
Preferences ................................................................................................ 111
Pixel Perfect Mappings ............................................................................... 111
How to Display LED mappings from MediaMaster ...................................... 111
While the Kling-Net Mapper is running. ..................................................................... 111
While Kling-Net Mapper is not running. ..................................................................... 112
Pixel Mapping over DMX .................................................................. 113
LED Mapper 3 introduction .................................................................. 113
Overview of the new features ..................................................................... 113
Concepts .................................................................................................... 114
The integration of the LED Mapper with MediaMaster ................................ 114
Hardware setup and the Fixture Nodes list ................................................. 114
LED Mapper 3 interface........................................................................ 115
The main LED Mapper interface ................................................................. 115
The Fixture Library ..................................................................................... 116
Creating or modifying a LED Fixture ........................................................... 117
The DMX Merger........................................................................................ 119
The Mapped Fixtures List ........................................................................... 121
Creating the LED mapping ......................................................................... 121
Selecting the network interface and the sender application ........................ 121
Editing the Device and DMX properties ...................................................... 123
Unicast versus Broadcast ........................................................................... 123
Editing the Mapping Properties .................................................................. 124
Deleting a device from the mapping ........................................................... 125
Mapped Devices Contextual Menu ............................................................. 125
Mapping resolution and pixel perfect sampling ........................................... 126
Project files ................................................................................................ 127
Performance tips ............................................................................... 128
Monitor Rate Versus Movie Rate ................................................................ 128
Hardware dependencies ............................................................................ 128
OS dependencies....................................................................................... 128
Windows OS ...............................................................................................................128
Mac OSX ....................................................................................................................128
Movie Compression ................................................................................... 129
Fixtures DMX Chart – Pro Version ................................ ................... 130
Layer Mini 1.0 (5 Channels) .................................................................. 130
Layer Tiny 1.0 (20 Channels) ................................................................ 131
Layer Full 1.1 (43 Channels) ................................................................. 131
Layer Full 1.0 (43 Channels) ................................................................. 134
Layer Extended (71 Channels) ............................................................. 134
Master Small 1.0 (3 Channels) .............................................................. 138
Master Full 1.0 (13 Channels) ............................................................... 138
Master Full 1.1 (16 Channels) ............................................................... 138
Master Full 1.2 (18 Channels) ............................................................... 139
Terminology / Glossary of Terms .................................................... 140
Support, Information and Contact ................................................... 142
Solutions ............................................................................................... 142
ArKaos PRO Users Forum ......................................................................... 142
Knowledgebase articles ............................................................................. 142
Trouble Ticket System................................................................................ 142
Distributors and resellers ................................ ................................ .... 142
ArKaos PRO Software License
WARNING:
DO NOT INSTALL THIS SOFTWARE UNTIL YOU HAVE READ AND ACCEPTED ALL THE
TERMS OF THIS LICENSE. YOUR INSTALLATION OF THIS SOFTWARE WILL BE DEEMED
TO BE YOUR ACCEPTANCE OF THE FOLLOWING TERMS AND YOUR WISH TO BECOME
THE LICENSEE OF THIS ARKAOS PRO SOFTWARE, WHICH ACCEPTANCE SHALL BIND
YOU AND ALL OF YOUR EMPLOYEES, AGENTS OR OTHER PARTIES WHO WILL USE
THIS SOFTWARE TO THE TERMS OF THE SAID LICENSE.
The ArKaos PRO Corporation (S.A. ARKAOS PRO, Chaussée de Waterloo, 198 B-1640
Rhode-Saint-Genèse - Belgium) is authorized to license the software of this installation (the
ArKaos PRO MediaMaster Software) and by installing the licensee accepts a non-exclusive,
non-transferable License to "Use" (as hereinafter defined) the ArKaos PRO MediaMaster
Software (“Software”) on a single computer system ("The System"), subject to the terms and
conditions contained herein.
This License entitles the Licensee to:
(a) make one working installation of the Software contained in this package on the System;
(b) use the Software strictly in accordance with the provisions of Clause 2 of this License;
(c) receive the benefit of the warranty specified herein;
1. Acceptance of this License.
The terms and conditions of this License are deemed to be accepted by the parties as follows:
(a) by the Licensor upon dispatch/delivery by the Licensor of this package to the Licensee, and
(b) by the Licensee by installing the software.
2. Use of the Software.
For the purposes of this License "Use" shall mean and include:
a. Utilizing the whole or any part of the Software on one machine at a time. Utilizing means
loading, transferring, copying or transmitting the Software into or within the single computer
system for the processing of the system instructions or statements contained in the Software.
b. Merging the whole or any part of the Software in machine-readable form into another
software program.
c. Copying the whole of the Software, which is in machine-readable form, into a machine
readable copy for Use by the Licensee solely on the System and for the purpose only of
understanding the contents of such readable material and for back up, PROVIDED THAT no
more than one (1) copy will be in existence under any License at any one time without prior
written consent from the Licensor.
d. Storing the whole or any part of the Software on the System or other storage unit or disk.
e. Utilizing (but not copying) the instructional and/or operational manuals relating to the
Software.
f. ACTIVATION CODE: With your purchase of the Software you will receive a unique Activation
Code. This Activation Code will allow to unlock the protection in the Software so that it can run
on a unique machine. Deactivating the software from one machine will allow to activate again
the software on another machine. Once an Activation Code is used on one machine, this
license doesn't give you right to activate and use the software on another machine. Activating
and using multiple machines requires multiple Activation Codes.
g. BACKUP LICENSE: A Backup License can be purchased by the Licensee for each owned
license and will grant an extra Activation Code to activate and run the software on a second
computer system. The Backup License only entitles the same Licensee to use the Software on
the second computer system.
9
3. Licensee's Undertakings:
The Licensee undertakes:
a. Not to copy (other than for normal System operation and as specified in Clause 2 above),
reproduce, translate (including electronic transfer), adapt, vary or modify the Software nor to
communicate the same to any third party without the Licensor's prior written consent.
b. To supervise and control Use of the Software in accordance with the terms of this License.
c. To ensure that its employees, agents and other parties who will use the Software are notified
of this License and the terms contained therein, and this prior to the said employee, agent or
party using the said Software.
d. To reproduce and include the copyright notice of the Licensor on all and any copies, whether
in whole or in part, in any form, including partial copies of modifications of the Software made
herein.
e. Not to provide or otherwise make available the Software in whole or in part (including where
applicable, but not limited to, program listings, object code and source program listings, object
code and source code), in any form to any person other than the Licensee's employees or as
specified in (c) above without prior written consent from the Licensor.
f. To refrain from amending the method of working of the Software by way of reverse
engineering, (necessary information to achieve the interoperability of the Software being
available for the Licensee from the Licensor).
4. Warranty.
a. The Licensee acknowledges that software in general is not error-free and agrees that the
existence of such errors shall not constitute a breach of this License.
b. In the event that the Licensee discovers a material error which substantially affects the
Licensee's use of the same and notifies the Licensor of the error within 90 days from the date
of dispatch of this License and the accompanying Software to the Licensee (the "warranty
period"), the Licensor shall at its sole discretion either refund the license fee or use all
reasonable endeavors to correct by patch or new release, also at its sole discretion, that part
of the Software which does not so comply, PROVIDED THAT such non-compliance has not
been caused by any modification, variation or addition to the original Software not performed
by the Licensor or caused by its incorrect use, abuse or corruption or by use of the Software
with other software or on equipment with which it is incompatible.
5. Source - Escrow.
The Licensor has established certain source code deposit arrangements ("accord de
séquestre") covering the source code and documentation for the "ArKaos PRO software" with
the AGENCY FOR THE PROTECTION OF PROGRAMS (The A.P.P), W.T.C 10, route de
l'Aéroport CH 125 Geneva. While this Agreement continues to exist, the Licensee will be
entitled to receive the protection of such escrow arrangements in accordance with the rules
and provisions of the "Procedure for the Applications of the Article 6 of the APP - IDDN General Regulation ".
6. The Licensor's Liability.
a. The Licensor shall not be liable to the Licensee for any loss or damage whatsoever or
howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with this License, the Software,
its use (whether or not as defined in this License) or otherwise, except to the extent that such
liability may not be lawfully excluded.
b. Notwithstanding the generality of (a) above, the Licensor expressly excludes liability for
indirect, special, incidental or consequential loss or damage which may arise in respect of the
Software, its Use, (whether or not as defined in this License), the System or in respect of other
equipment or property, or for loss of profit, business, revenue, goodwill or anticipated savings.
7. Patents, Trademarks, Copyright and Intellectual Property Rights.
a. The Licensee acknowledges that any and all of the trademarks, trade names, copyrights,
patents and other intellectual property rights used or embodied in or in connection with the
Software shall be and remain the sole property of the Licensor or such other party as may be
identified therein or thereon.
b. The Licensee shall not during or at any time after the expiry or termination of this License
in any way question or dispute the ownership by the Licensor or rightful owners of any such
rights.
c. The Software, all copies of the software and derivative works based upon the Software or
any part thereof remain the property of the Licensor.
d. The Licensee shall indemnify the Licensor fully against all liabilities, costs and expenses
which the Licensor may incur as a result of work done in accordance with the Licensee's
specifications involving infringement of any copyright patent or other proprietary right.
8. Confidential Information.
All information, data, drawings, specifications, documentation, software listings, source or
object code which the Licensor may have imparted and may from time to time impart to the
Licensee, relating to the Software, is proprietary and confidential. The Licensee hereby agrees
that it shall use the same solely in accordance with the provisions of this License and that it
shall not at any time during or after expiry or termination of this License, disclose the same,
whether directly or indirectly, to any third party without the Licensor's prior written consent.
The Licensee further agrees that it shall not itself or through any subsidiary, agent or third party
modify, vary, enhance, copy, sell, lease, license, sub-license or otherwise deal in the Software
or any part or parts, variations, modifications, copies, releases, versions or enhancements
thereof or have any software or other program written or developed for itself based on any
confidential information supplied by the Licensor.
9. Force Majeure.
The Licensor shall be under no liability to the Licensee in respect of anything which, apart from
this provision, may constitute breach of this License arising by reason of force majeure,
namely, circumstances beyond the control of the Licensor.
10. Assignment.
The Licensee shall not assign or otherwise transfer all or any part of the Software or this
License without the prior written consent of the Licensor.
11. Waiver.
Failure or neglect by either party to enforce at any time the provisions hereof shall not be
construed nor shall be deemed to be a waiver of that party's rights hereunder nor any way
affect the validity of the whole or any part of this License nor prejudice that party's rights to take
subsequent action.
12. Severability.
11
In the event that any of these terms, conditions or provisions should turn out to be invalid,
unlawful or unenforceable to any extent, such term, condition or provision shall be withdrawn
from the remaining terms, conditions and provisions, which shall continue to be valid to the
fullest extent permitted by law.
13. Law.
The parties hereby agree that this License concluded between them and constituted on these
terms and conditions shall be interpreted in accordance with Belgian Law.
14. Notices with respect to licenses administrated by MPEGLA.
MPEG-4 Video Decoders and/or Encoders Notice
THIS PRODUCT IS LICENSED UNDER THE MPEG-4 VISUAL PATENT PORTFOLIO
LICENSE FOR THE PERSONAL AND NON-COMMERCIAL USE OF A CONSUMER FOR (i)
ENCODING VIDEO IN COMPLIANCE WITH THE MPEG-4 VISUAL STANDARD (ÒMPEG-4
VIDEOÓ) AND/OR (ii) DECODING MPEG-4 VIDEO THAT WAS ENCODED BY A
CONSUMER ENGAGED IN A PERSONAL AND NON-COMMERCIAL ACTIVITY AND/OR
WAS OBTAINED FROM A VIDEO PROVIDER LICENSED BY MPEG LA TO PROVIDE
MPEG-4 VIDEO. NO LICENSE IS GRANTED OR SHALL BE IMPLIED FOR ANY OTHER
USE. AD.DITIONAL INFORMATION INCLUDING THAT RELATING TO PROMOTIONAL,
INTERNAL AND COMMERCIAL USES AND LICENSING MAY BE OBTAINED FROM MPEG
LA, LLC. SEE HTTP://WWW.MPEGLA.COM.
AVC Royalty Product Notice
THIS PRODUCT IS LICENSED UNDER THE AVC PATENT PORTFOLIO LICENSE FOR THE
PERSONAL AND NON-COMMERCIAL USE OF A CONSUMER TO (i) ENCODE VIDEO IN
COMPLIANCE WITH THE AVC STANDARD (ÒAVC VIDEOÓ) AND/OR (ii) DECODE AVC
VIDEO THAT WAS ENCODED BY A CONSUMER ENGAGED IN A PERSONAL AND NONCOMMERCIAL ACTIVITY AND/OR WAS OBTAINED FROM A VIDEO PROVIDER
LICENSED BY MPEG LA TO PROVIDE AVC VIDEO.
NO LICENSE IS GRANTED OR SHALL BE IMPLIED FOR ANY OTHER USE. ADDITIONAL
INFORMATION MAY BE OBTAINED FROM MPEG LA, LLC. SEE
HTTP://WWW.MPEGLA.COM.
AVC Sales to Codec Licensee Notice
THIS PRODUCT IS LICENSED UNDER THE AVC PATENT PORTFOLIO LICENSE. SUCH
LICENSE EXTENDS TO THIS PRODUCT ONLY AND ONLY TO THE EXTENT OF OTHER
NOTICES WHICH MAY BE INCLUDED HEREIN. THE LICENSE DOES EXTEND TO ANY
OTHER PRODUCT REGARDLESS OF WHETHER SUCH PRODUCT IS INCLUDED WITH
THIS LICENSED PRODUCT IN A SINGLE ARTICLE. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION MAY BE
OBTAINED FROM MPEG LA, LLC. SEE HTTP://WWW.MPEGLA.COM.
15. Notice with respect to the avcodec-54, avformat-54, swresample-0, swscale-2 and avutil52 libraries originating from the FFMPEG project.
The avcodec-54, avformat-54, swresample-0, swscale-2 and avutil-52 libraries are from the
FFMPEG project. FFMPEG is a large project that allows recording, conversion and streaming
of audio and video data. This product uses them to decompress MPEG based files. The author
and primary copyright holder is Fabrice Bellard <fabrice.bellard at free.fr>. More information
can be found at http://ffmpeg.sourceforge.net. The FFMPEG project is distributed under the
GNU Lesser General Public License mentioned below.
GNU Lesser General Public License
Version 3, 29 June 2007
Copyright (C) 2007 Free Software Foundation, Inc. <http://fsf.org/>
Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this license document, but
changing it is not allowed.
This version of the GNU Lesser General Public License incorporates the terms and conditions
of version 3 of the GNU General Public License, supplemented by the additional permissions
listed below.
0. Additional Definitions.
As used herein, "this License" refers to version 3 of the GNU Lesser General Public License,
and the "GNU GPL" refers to version 3 of the GNU General Public License.
"The Library" refers to a covered work governed by this License, other than an Application or
a Combined Work as defined below.
An "Application" is any work that makes use of an interface provided by the Library, but which
is not otherwise based on the Library. Defining a subclass of a class defined by the Library is
deemed a mode of using an interface provided by the Library.
A "Combined Work" is a work produced by combining or linking an Application with the Library.
The particular version of the Library with which the Combined Work was made is also called
the "Linked Version".
The "Minimal Corresponding Source" for a Combined Work means the Corresponding Source
for the Combined Work, excluding any source code for portions of the Combined Work that,
considered in isolation, are based on the Application, and not on the Linked Version.
The "Corresponding Application Code" for a Combined Work means the object code and/or
source code for the Application, including any data and utility programs needed for reproducing
the Combined Work from the Application, but excluding the System Libraries of the Combined
Work.
1. Exception to Section 3 of the GNU GPL.
You may convey a covered work under sections 3 and 4 of this License without being bound
by section 3 of the GNU GPL.
2. Conveying Modified Versions.
If you modify a copy of the Library, and, in your modifications, a facility refers to a function or
data to be supplied by an Application that uses the facility (other than as an argument passed
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13
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15
Introduction
Welcome to MediaMaster Version 5!
The ArKaos PRO MediaMaster software has been created to offer an intuitive solution for the
control of video media, animations and live picture inputs.
It is a media server software that offers playback and real-time manipulation of clips, images
and live feeds as well as flash text animations and real-time visual effect generators.
The MediaMaster environment runs on both Windows and Mac OS platforms and integrates
with your system hardware to offer a professional performance solution customised to your
needs.
Documentation
The present User Guide covers all the aspects of MediaMaster Express and Pro version 5.0,
including their extensions (LED Mapper, Kling-Net Mapper, Video Mapper, MediaHub…). Any
changes, or any addition in the next intermediate releases (5.1, 5.2 etc..) will be detailed in the
Release Notes PDF document, which can be found in the software installation folder on your
computer.
The Release Notes document completes this User Guide.
Express vs Pro
MediaMaster has two distinct user interfaces both with the power of the ArKaos PRO engine:
the Theater mode and the Fixture mode interface.
The Theater mode allows easy hands-on control via DMX, MIDI or even a computer keyboard.
The Fixture mode offers a comprehensive fixture style interface for direct control over DMX off
all parameters and attributes.
MediaMaster is available in two different editions: Express and Pro. The Express edition is
limited to the Theater mode interface and 12 layers of video, while the Pro edition enables both
Theater mode and Fixture mode interface, 36 layers of video and the Video Mapper extension.
Soft-Edge and Pixel-mapping control over DMX & Art-Net are available in both version but
MediaMaster Pro adds a Geometric Correction module including advanced Soft-Edge settings
per output and the Video Mapper extension for easy mapping of video onto irregularly shaped
surfaces and through multiple outputs. The Video Mapper also offers advanced Soft-Edge,
Geometric Correction and Per-display Color Correction.
We hope you will enjoy using the software as much as we have enjoyed creating it for you!
Sincerely, The ArKaos PRO team
Installing the software - PC
To install the MediaMaster software, insert the MediaMaster installation CD into your
computer’s CD-ROM drive. Double-click on the MediaMaster installation file, located in the root
directory of the CD. This will launch the Nullsoft installer.
Follow the on-screen instructions.
Note:
The installation program will scan the available video player components on your computer
prior to installing the software. If there are any components that are not up to date, please
install them by clicking on their corresponding button before proceeding with the
installation.
Once the installation is complete, click “Finish”. The MediaMaster software is now ready to be
used.
Start MediaMaster by going to Start -> ArKaos PRO MediaMaster -> MediaMaster.
To activate your copy, follow the registration process described on page 18 in this document.
Installing the software - Mac
To install the MediaMaster software, insert the MediaMaster installation CD into your
computer’s CD-ROM drive. Click on the MediaMaster installer package located in the root
directory of the CD. This will launch the Installer Wizard.
Follow the on-screen instructions.
The installer will add a shortcut to MediaMaster App on your desktop. The application will be
installed in your Applications/ArKaos PRO MediaMaster folder.
Start MediaMaster by double clicking the shortcut.
To activate your copy, follow the registration process described on page 18 in this document.
17
About your license
Your software box comes with an Activation Code inside. It is very important that you keep this
code in a safe place since it is the proof that you own a license and it might be needed in the
future to re-install the software or to obtain upgrades.
The Activation Code, however, is not the final serial number that will activate the software on
your computer. To be able to run the software without limitations, you will need to create a
serial number by following the instructions here after.
Note:
MediaMaster comes in two distinct editions: Express and Pro, please refer to “Express vs
Pro” on page 16 for more info.
Activating your software
Software Activation Dialog
When you launch the application for the first time, it will display a “Software Activation” dialog.
About the Demo Mode
Note that, from the “Software Activation” dialog you can also choose to run the software in
demo mode. If you do so, the software will still be fully functional but a ‘demo’ banner will be
displayed randomly above the output.
There are three possible demo modes related to the different MediaMaster editions: Express
and Pro, please refer to “Express vs Pro” on page 16 for more info.
Note:
If you are not sure of your hardware setup and / or computer performance and you wish to
make tests to decide whether you will use MediaMaster on a computer or not, we
recommend to do so in demo mode since the software is fully functional in this mode. The
demo mode also allows you to understand the differences between the Pro and the Express
edition by letting you test the Theater mode interface or the Fixture interface.
Use Activation Code
To use this activation option you need a working Internet connection, a valid mail address and
the activation code.
Fill in the activation code and your mail address and click “Next”.
You will get a confirmation screen when the system is activated. You will also receive a
confirmation mail and if you are using the activation code for the first time, you will also receive
a password for your online customer account.
Activate License Dongle
To use this activation option you need a working Internet connection, a valid mail address, the
activation code and a License Dongle.
If no License Dongle is detected or multiple License Dongles are detected you will not be able
to click “Next”.
19
If your License Dongle is not yet activated you will have to enter your activation code and mail
address.
You will get a confirmation screen when the system is activated. You will also receive a
confirmation mail and if you are using the activation code for the first time, you will also receive
a password for your online customer account.
If your License Dongle is already activated you will get the following confirmation screen.
Use Serial Key File
To use this activation option you need a serial key file (.aks) from www.arkaospro.com for this
computer.
21
Introduction to the software
MediaMaster is a unique media server and visual effects software solution, which allows you
to quickly create dynamic visual presentations.
ArKaos PRO has long been established as a leading software developer for media control and
the MediaMaster software has been designed to be as comprehensive in its functionality as
possible and as such offers the perfect solution for the seamless real time integration of video
into live performance, theatre, concerts and presentations.
Control Concepts
Theater Mode interface
The Theater mode interface of MediaMaster marks a new phase in software development
allowing you to make use of the latest dynamic visual effects combined with an efficient and
intuitive library management system and with Theater front end control via DMX, MIDI or even
a computer keyboard.
There are numerous attributes that must be defined to allow control of visuals in media servers
– including content selection, playback speed, effects, size and position, keystoning etc. When
these are directly controlled by a lighting console, such as with MediaMaster Pro’s Fixture
interface, they can require a substantial number of control channels.
MediaMaster’ Theater Mode interface allows you to make these decisions in the software itself
and then simply take control of these visual presets using a few channels on your lighting desk
or notes on a MIDI controller.
Controlling the playback in the Theater Mode interface is much the same as using a dimmer to
control a conventional fixture: think of rigging a profile light for a show – you decide first where
to hang it, what color it should be, if you need a gobo or other effect’s device such as a scroller
or animation disc. Once the fixture is rigged, prepared and focused you then only need to
change the level of its dimmer as and when you require it in the show.
Using the Theater Mode is the same – on the software you create the visual combination you
want – define the content, any effects, playback speed etc. and then with your external
controller simply fade it in an out as required during your show.
Just like with a lighting system you can have multiple instruments – or in this case layers - to
build your final show from.
As such the Theater Mode gives you the same flexibility and control over your media as with a
fixture based control solution but with an unprecedented ease of use.
Fixture Mode interface
MediaMaster Pro adds a fixture-based operation mode and as such acts as a traditional Media
Server for professional lighting consoles such as ChamSys, Avolites, LSC, ETC, GrandMA,
Martin, Compulite, etc.
The fixture profiles allow total control of every MediaMaster parameter straight from the DMX
console.
To be able to send DMX commands to the server, you will need to set it up so it can
communicate with your console. MediaMaster supports two different type of DMX connectivity:
either using ArtNet or using a DMX USB widget.
Features Summary:
Outputs
MediaMaster is designed to work best with a minimum of a dual output computer system where
the main screen shows the user interface and an output preview and the second screen (or
screens) show the full resolution output image – this would normally be connected to a
projector, screen, video mixer or LED display device.
In MediaMaster, there are three types of output:
Display outputs: “Displays” are the devices that are connected to the computer graphical
card(s) using DVI, HDMI, DisplayPort or VGA connectors.
In Instant mode, there’s a single output called “Full screen Display” that correspond to the
full screen display (or multiple displays) that’s selected directly in the preferences.
In Video Mapper mode, there are as many outputs as surfaces that are defined using the
“Video Mapper“ application.
LED Mapper output: a set of LED devices controlled by the DMX protocol. The output
mapping is defined using the “LED Mapper” application.
Kling-Net output: a set of LED devices controlled by ArKaos PRO Kling-Net protocol. The
output mapping is defined using the “Kling-Net Mapper” application.
You can switch between Instant and Video Mapper Display modes, and activate LED Mapper
and Kling-Net outputs in the Output tab of the Preferences window.
MediaMaster can assign visuals to layers, and each layer can be assigned to a single output
or a group of outputs that are defined within the application.
You can create groups using the dedicated “Output” dialog that’s accessible in the “Outputs
Management” menu item (CTRL + O / Cmd + O).
There are numerous ways to configure your outputs, which are discussed later in this manual.
Visual Presets – Theater Mode interface
In the Theater Mode interface the choice of playback visuals is organized into patches and you
can create up to 124 patches with up to 128 visual presets in each patch – that’s 15872 possible
visual presets for each media library.
Media Management (Express and Pro)
As its name suggests MediaMaster can handle numerous different types of media sources –
including video, flash, quartz compositions, images, external cameras and sources and even
audio when attached to a video file.
These media files are organized into library folders in exactly the same way that you would
create and manage files on the computer. There are 256 library folders and each folder can
have up to 255 individual pieces of media (one media file is always kept as a blank slot by the
software).
Some of the library folders in ArKaos PRO are pre-defined for specific duties – such as camera
feeds or text effects - and these will be covered in a later section of this manual. It is also
possible to have more than one library and this is also covered later.
23
Note:
Think of the media management as a set of filing cabinets – you have a total of 256 drawers
and each draw can store 256 files in it. By creating a good filing practice you can quickly
and easily find the content you need.
For example you can group clips by type or project into a specific folder so folder 001 has
cloud animations, folder 002 has computer game visuals, folder 003 has slides for a specific
event and so on and so forth.
With a possible media library of over 60,000 clips it can be really helpful to organise clips
in this manner and make the recall of clips even more efficient.
In the Theater Mode your set-up configuration and show information is automatically saved
into the library folder as it is created so the next time you boot the software you will have the
exact set-up you last created. No need to keep saving – ArKaos PRO stores it all for you
alongside your media library.
In the Fixture Mode your set-up configuration and preferences are saved with the software but
as the show will be controlled driven via DMX your show settings would be stored on the lighting
console or controller you use with the software.
Layers – Theater Mode
MediaMaster Express is capable of running 12 layers of media playback simultaneously and
uses a LTP (last takes precedence) rule when more than 12 visual presets are selected.
The LTP rule means that the software automatically moves visual presets when layers become
empty so that any new cues always jump to the highest (top) layer available.
For example if you activate visual presets 1 through 12 in sequence so that each one is running
on a different layer simultaneously and then activate visual preset 13 the first visual preset you
selected (which was allocated to layer 1) will be removed and all of the visual presets move up
a layer – so the visual preset on layer 2 moves to layer 1 and so on.
If you fade out one layer – for example the visual preset on layer 4 – then the layers
automatically move up – so the visual preset on layer 5 moves to layer 4 and so on.
It will work the same way when running MediaMaster Pro in Theater Mode except that you will
have access to 36 layers.
The resolution of the video content is limited only by what your computer hardware can handle
so with the right hardware 36 layers of High Definition (or greater) video is more than possible.
Software Interface Overview
Theater Mode interface
The software comprises one main patch and preview window, which displays the main
information needed during configuration and performance. The output of each of the running
layers is shown along with a master preview (a reflection of what is sent to the full screen
output). The window also displays the visual patches from the selected patch and a master
control panel to define characteristics of the master output.
Key features
36 layers (Pro edition) or 12 layers (Express edition) of simultaneous video playback.
64 Visual presets patches, each containing 128 visual presets.
Direct access to visual presets and global controls via DMX, MIDI or Keyboard.
Master section allowing to control the following parameters:
Brightness and contrast
Keystoning
Soft edge parameters
Audio output volume
Each visual preset can be fully configured with the following parameters:
Visual selected
Playback mode
Movie Speed
Loop start and end frame
Effect and effect control parameters
Trigger for control (Keyboard, DMX, Midi)
Controller configuration for live effect control
Position and size of the layer output
Mixing style with other layers including:
Maximum transparency
Red / Green / Blue / Hue / Saturation / Lightness Levels
Copy Mode
Mask Mode
Default Fade Time
Tiling
25
Fixture Mode interface – MediaMaster Pro
The Fixture Mode interface available in MediaMaster Pro is organized along one main window
that displays most of the information needed during a performance. It shows the 36 individual
layer outputs as well as the master preview (the reflection of what is sent to the full screen
output) and a parameter panel allowing accessing and modifying the settings for each layer.
Parameters can be either modified through the user interface or from the DMX console. If you
modify a parameter on the user interface, it will keep its value unless a change happens in
DMX values. It then re-syncs to the value sent by the console.
In order to drive MediaMaster from a DMX console, you will need to select in your console a
fixture that is compatible with the software. Within MediaMaster there are couple of different
fixture types in order to allow control of the software from small to high-end consoles with a
different set of parameter controls available with each fixture type. An extensive description of
the fixture types is available later in this document in the “Fixtures DMX Chart – Pro Version”
section 130.
Key features
The software provides for up to 36 layers of video. Each layer can run one visual and one
effect, and gives DMX control over the following parameters:
Visual selected (a visual is either a video, an image, a text, or an input from a camera or an
acquisition board…)
Text (selectable text displayed in text animations)
Layer transparency (dimmer)
Effect and parameters
Full cropping features (to transform your media server into a full-on, live video mixer)
Position and size of the layer output
Copy mode to blend with underlying layer
Playback mode and Movie Speed
Chrominance and Luminance Keying
Movie start and end frame
Tiling
Mapping on 3D objects (plane, sphere, cylinder)
3D Object rotation
Color control
Output selection and edition
Additionally, after all layers have been composed, there is a master section allowing to control
the overall brightness and contrast, keystoning, soft-edge and volume parameters.
Full Screen Output
By default, when you start the software, the full screen output is not enabled. If you want to
activate the full screen either by selecting the menu Display > Toggle Full screen or by pressing
CTRL+F on Windows / Cmd+F on Mac.
The full screen output can be launched automatically when the application is started by setting
this as default in the preferences (see page 67 for further details)
If you don’t have a dual output setup configured then the full screen will be activated on the
main screen and the main interface will disappear. To exit the full screen mode, press CTRL+F
/ Cmd+F again.
For more information on setting up a dual output system, see the “Preferences Dialog” on page
66 and the “Wide-screen & Multi-screen presentation” on page 80 in this document.
Connecting an External Controller
Setting up DMX Control
To be able to control MediaMaster via DMX, you’ll need to set it up so it can receive information
from your console. MediaMaster supports two different types of DMX connectivity: either using
ArtNet or using a DMX USB widget.
Using ArtNet
If your console supports ArtNet, you simply have to connect an Ethernet cable from the console
to the computer running the MediaMaster software.
On Mac computers the hardware is usually auto sensing so a standard network cable may be
used. On Windows computers you may need a crossover cable if linking directly between the
console and the computer running Media Master.
MediaMaster presents itself as an ArtNet Node that receives all incoming DMX data on a
selected range of DMX universes. For your computer to appear on the ArtNet network, you
need to set its IP address within the range of the network – this is usually something like
2.X.X.X with an IP mask of 255.0.0.0 (this can be done in the control panel on Windows or
System Preferences on MAC OS)
If you decide to use MediaMaster using the ArtNet protocol, go in the Preferences Dialog and,
in the DMX tab, select ‘ArtNet’ as DMX Interface and set the subnet and universes you want
to be listening to.
Note:
Like any lighting fixture or dimmer MediaMaster will “listen” to all channels on the selected
universe but only respond to the channels it is addressed to. It is quite feasible therefore to
have other fixtures using different addresses on the same universe in much the same way
as you could use a variety of moving lights, dimmers and LED’s all on the same universe.
For more information about ArtNet network configuration, check out the Artistic License web
site at http://www.artisticlicence.com/.
MSEX implementation (Pro edition only)
MSEX stands for Media Server Extension and is a protocol that runs on top of DMX over
Ethernet allowing for bi-directional communication between the media server and console. This
allows for information on specific items to be passed from MediaMaster to the console. This
includes media (images and video); effects; cues; crossfades; masks; blend presets; effects
presets; and image presets.
MediaMaster’s MSEX implementation is compatible with most of the lighting consoles, like
ChamSys and Compulite. MediaMaster complies with the MSEX version 1.1 specifications,
including thumbnails and live preview for visuals.
Support for grandMA MA-Net (Windows Only)
MediaMaster can be directly driven from grandMA consoles supporting the MA-eDMX protocol.
To activate MA-Net, go to the DMX tab in the Preferences Dialog and select “MA-Net” from the
DMX Interface drop down box:
27
You will need to specify the session number and universe you want to work with as well as the
IP address of the interface you will receive MA-Net from.
Using an Enttec DMX USB Pro device
The DMX USB device is a small DMX input adaptor that can be connected to the computer
through a USB port. To be able to use the device, you will need to follow a Theater installation
procedure.
Setting up an Enttec DMX USB Pro device on a PC
The Enttec DMX USB Pro will ONLY work with the D2XX drivers and not the VCOM drivers.
This is a change from version 1.0 where MediaMaster was using the VCOM drivers. If you
already installed the VCOM drivers this is not a problem because both can coexist on the same
machine.
If you’re setting up MediaMaster on a new Windows system you will not have to install the
VCOM drivers separately, just install MediaMaster and it will work.
To use the device, start MediaMaster and select the Enttec DMX USB Pro in the DMX tab of
the preference window.
If the Enttec DMX USB Pro device installation was not successful or if the device is not correctly
connected to the computer, the interface won’t be listed in the selection of DMX Interfaces.
Setting up an Enttec DMX USB Pro device on a Mac OSX
The Enttec DMX USB Pro will ONLY work with the D2XX drivers and not the VCOM drivers.
Under Mac OS X if the VCOM driver is installed it will prevent MediaMaster to work with the
D2XX interface.
To avoid this you can delete the VCOM driver by opening a terminal window and typing:
sudo rm -rf /System/Library/Extensions/FTDIUSBSerialDriver.kext
You can also open the /System/Library/Extensions folder and delete the file
FTDIUSBSerialDriver.kext if present
You will need to have Administrator privileges on the system to do this. You will also need to
reboot the computer after you have deleted the file.
If you’re setting up MediaMaster on a new Mac OS X system you will not have to install the
VCOM drivers separately, just install MediaMaster and it will work.
If the Enttec DMX USB Pro device installation was not successful or if the device is not properly
connected to the computer, the interface won’t be listed in the selection of DMX Interfaces
available in the Preferences dialog.
Setting up MIDI Control
To be able to control MediaMaster via MIDI, you will just need to have a MIDI device connected
and properly installed on your system before starting the application.
Then, from the MIDI input type tab from the Show Settings dialog (see page 36) you can check
the device availability and define how the software will respond to the MIDI signals from your
controller.
29
Using the Software – Theater Mode
The main window
The main software window has been designed to include all the principal configuration
information in a single window allowing for intuitive and efficient live operation.
The main window is arranged in three main areas:
Layer Previews
On the top left of the window are 12 (in MediaMaster Express) or 36 (in MediaMaster Pro) layer
previews showing the content of each layer.
Content is allocated to each layer on an LTP basis during playback of the visual presets. As
such if you are running content of layers 1 thru 4 and then fade out the content on layer 3, the
content on layer 4 will move to layer 3 automatically and if you then activate another preset
visual this will appear on layer 4.
Layer Preview Customization
By right clicking on the layers, a contextual menu offers a set of options to customize the
display of Layer Preview.
Preview Style tells whether previews should be turned off, playback the visual source, or
show the visual with all effects applied.
Text Style modifies the font used to display Elapsed and Remaining Times.
Text Background sets whether a transparent or opaque black background should be
displayed below the overlaid text for better readability.
Show Play Progress Bar shows the playback cursor in the visual.
Show Play Times shows Elapsed and Remaining times of the visual playback.
Arrangement of the layers will automatically adjust based on the size available in the
interface.
Highlight Related Visual Preset allows to quickly identify the Visual Preset that is being
previewed.
Edit Related Visual Preset is a shortcut to directly enter in the Edit dialog of the Visual Preset
previewed.
31
Master Output
To the right hand side of the software window is the master
output section.
At the top of this is a preview of the output to your external
display coupled with an output selector. This preview
shows the result of the composition of all the active layers
on the selected output.
This allows you to see what is being sent to your external
device and also to prepare and preview your show without
the need to connect an external output.
Master output controls
Under the output preview are the master parameter
controls. Below is a quick description of each control you
can see in the picture on the left, in the next pages we’ll
describe how to use these settings in more detail.
Master brightness and contrast
These global settings can be controlled either by mouse
control or by defining remote DMX or MIDI channels for
Brightness and Contrast from the “SHOW” dialogue box
which can be opened using the button at the top of the
visuals patch window.
Blackout button
If the blackout button is selected then the external output
will go to BLACK – but the preview window will still show
the layer composition preview.
Mask selection (Instant mode only)
Use it to recall a master mask from the library to overlay
on the output.
Master Keystone Settings for X and Y (Instant mode only)
These allow precise global keystone settings to be defined in order to digitally calibrate
the output to ensure the best position of the visuals onto the screen or display unit.
Width and Curve settings for Soft-Edging (Instant mode only)
When using a multi screen output these controls allow you to configure the blending
zone between the two projectors – the width sets the size of the overlapping strip and
the curve defines how strong the soft edge blending should be to ensure you can
calibrate the overlap to a seamless image with even brightness.
Master Volume
The “Volume” controls the volume of the output when your visuals contain some audio
tracks. This way you can make sure that the audio plays in a proper way even when it
has been recorded at different levels.
Note:
The aspect ratio of the layer preview is 4:3 ratio and therefore if you are working with an
output of a different aspect ratio (for example 16:9 or a custom widescreen) the output will
be shown “squashed to fit” within the preview window.
Masks (Instant mode only)
When a new media library is created the Masks folder is set as folder 255. Masks consists of
black and white or grayscale jpeg images. When a mask file is recalled from this folder using
the Mask selection in the master control the white is automatically removed and the black left
in tact to create a mask over the top of the output layers content.
Note:
In addition to providing some interesting and unique shapes the mask function is
particularly useful when working with circular or irregular shaped screens. By recalling a
mask shape you can quickly and easily ensure that all content is masked to fit the screen.
Keystoning (Instant mode only)
You can alter the master keystone settings for the output using the virtual encoders on the
master section of the main software window.
Keystoning allows you to digitally alter the image in order to help fit the output to the screen.
For example if the projector is mounted slightly off axis to the screen then you may choose to
adjust the keystoning to give the impression of a flat image.
The keystone settings on MediaMaster allow you to modify the position of each of the four
corners of the image within the output window by changing the X/Y coordinates of each corner.
Note:
Unlike using shutters on a profile light Keystoning does not cut or mask any of the image.
Instead the action of Keystoning moves these corners but all pixels of output remain the
same – they are just in different positions on the screen. MediaMaster automatically adjusts
the pixel composition to fit within the new keystoned parameters.
Keystoning only shows on the output window as it is directly related to the output display you
are using. It is a global setting across the full width of the output display so for example if you
are using two projectors side by side to make a single wide image then the keystone function
will manipulate the top right and bottom right of one projector and the top left and bottom left
of the other.
Soft Edging (Instant mode only)
Soft edging is used when several projectors are combined to build one big scene. In such
cases, you often have to overlap the images sent by every projector in order to blend them
correctly.
The two soft-edge parameters allow controlling the blending zone in between each projector:
the width parameter sets the width of the overlapping strip while the curve defines how strong
the soft-edge blending should be.
For more information about setting up soft-edge, refer to the “Preference Dialog” section about
Soft Edge Span on page 68 and to the “Soft-Edge” chapter on page 85.
The Keystone functions on Media Master allow you
to digitally keystone BOTH the Vertical and
Horizontal sides of the image. The power and
control offered by MediaMaster gives you far
greater range and precision than that offered in the
built in settings of most projectors.
Status indicators
These give a summary of the current operational statistics including the FPS (frames per
second) of the graphics processing unit (GPU) and the central processing unit (CPU) of the
computer. The two FPS bars give performance information about the engine.
The first line (GPU) shows indication of the current frame rate. It is active only when in full
33
screen. The value on the right shows the average frame rate of the engine.
The second line (CPU) shows an indication of the activity from the CPU. The CPU is mostly
used to decode video frames. Note that this value does not reflect the overall system CPU
activity; it only reflects the CPU activity caused by MediaMaster.
Note:
If the CPU value drops down a lot (and most likely the GPU will too in that case), it means
MediaMaster’s bottleneck is decoding frames. Either your video files are too heavy (check
your compression settings) either you are hitting a hard drive bottleneck. In that latter case,
you can try to upgrade to faster disks, use a RAID1 or reduce the bitrate of your video
compression.
The status summary also indicates if DMX, MIDI control, LED, Kling-Net, Video Mapper output
and Timecode input are currently active and which are shown as six small “virtual LED’s” which
“light up” when active. The License “LED” will light up blue if the software is activated and red
when an empty dongle or a dongle with the wrong version is plugged. More details are shown
in the Preferences Activation tab.
For the LEDMapper, if the LED is Orange it indicates that the LEDMapper application is open
and outputting. If the LED is Red, it could be that the LEDMapper outputs on the same universe
used to control MediaMaster from a lighting desk. More information is shown in the DMX tab
in the Preferences. The symbol between square brackets indicates if the DMX Merger is ON,
the blend mode and whether LEDMapper output is Muted.
Visual Preset and Preset Patch
The main portion of the software interface is used to display visual presets. Each preset visual
may comprise the selection of a piece of media, text or real-time generator, the overlay of an
effect, the definition of where that visual should be displayed on the output screen and the
mixing style of that visual when added to the output.
At the top of the visual preset window is the patch selection, show settings and latch toggle
functions. In Fixture Mode you can also find there the output function that holds the video
mapper settings.
Note:
The visual preset is displayed as a vertical strip and this can be thought of in much the
same way as the channel strip on an analogue audio console – input at the top and output
at the bottom after effects, sends, and other parameters are defined.
At the top of each Visual Preset strip is the “input” visual – which you have selected from your
library. If you have selected a Flash Text animation then you will also see a text box below the
library and clip selection, which allows you to select a text string from your texts library.
Once you have selected the “input” media you can then use the effect box to apply an effect to
it. You can also define the media position on the output screen (this will be detailed further in
this document under “Position Parameters” at page 40). Then you can select the mixing preset
that determines how the layer will compose with the other layers below.
With the output function you can select the outputs on which the layer will be rendered to, and
you can control the output intensity of the preset visual either with the fader at the bottom of
the preset visual strip or via DMX, MIDI or keyboard control.
Finally, you will find an EDIT button at the top of the visual strip, this will open a dialog where
you can define in much greater detail the parameters of the visual preset (see “Edit parameters
for visual presets” on page 38).
Note:
When a visual preset is active, the background of the visual preset strip is highlighted in
blue.
Patch Selection
Each MediaMaster library can have up to 64 patches with 128 preset visuals in each patch.
You can select the patch either by changing the number in the patch box – or by using a master
patch selection channel via DMX or MIDI which can be defined in the show settings pop-up
window.
Latch Toggle
The latch toggle function means that the selection of a Visual Preset will automatically latch
until the selection button is pressed again when it will be released. You can also define latch
as a parameter option specific to a visual preset using the latch selection in the edit parameters
window for that visual preset.
Note:
Whilst the latch toggle is perhaps most clearly relevant when using a computer keyboard it
can also be of benefit when using an external controller with buttons rather than faders –
such as a MIDI pad or DMX button wing – you are able to toggle layers on and off rather
than having to keep the button pressed for the duration you require that Visual preset to be
active. As you can define fade times for individual visual presets you will still be able to
achieve smooth cross fades where required.
Managing Patch and Visual presets (Copy, Paste, Edit,..)
You can right click in the interface to bring a contextual menu. Depending on where you right
click in the interface this menu will allow you to copy paste a patch or copy paste a visual
preset. Other options in the contextual menu will allow you to clear a patch and open the visual
preset editing window.
35
Show Settings
Clicking on the SHOW button opens a pop-up window where you can define DMX, MIDI and
Keyboard settings for the show.
DMX channels
a total of 255. Each can be configured to operate a specific visual preset.
Patch Selector Channel:
This is the controller that can be used to change the active patch from a DMX controller.
Patch Display offset Channel:
Select the index of the first visual preset to display in the patch by scrolling through the visual
presets.
Brightness Channel
This is the master brightness channel, which controls the master brightness (luminosity) of the
software output.
Contrast Channel
This is the master contrast channel, which controls the master contrast of the software output.
Master volume channel
This master volume channel controls the output volume of the visuals that run with audio.
Note:
Cue Player tab is explained in the Cue Player session of the documentation.
With DMX input type configured in the
master preferences window of the
software this DMX show setting window
allows you to define how the software
should respond to incoming DMX data
on the configured universe.
Trigger Channels:
This defines what the first trigger
channel should be and how many there
are – you can have up to 255 trigger
channels which will be allocated to
each preset visual in order.
Parameter Channels:
Defines the number of parameter
control channels you wish to use up to
MIDI controllers and notes
With MIDI input type configured
in the master preferences
window of the software this MIDI
show settings configuration
allows you to define how the
software should respond to
incoming MIDI data.
Trigger Controllers:
This defines what the first trigger
controllers should be and how
many there are – you can have
up to 64 trigger controllers which
will be allocated to each preset
visual in order.
Trigger Notes:
This defines what the first trigger
there are – you can have up to 64 trigger controllers which will be allocated to each preset
visual in order.
Parameter Controllers:
This defines the number of parameter controllers you wish to use up to a total of 127. Each of
these controllers can be configured to operate a specific visual preset.
Patch Selector Controllers:
This is the controller that can be used to change the active patch from a MIDI controller.
Patch Display offset Controllers:
If you only need to select a limited number of patch you can limit the range with this value.
Brightness Controller:
This is the master brightness controller, which controls the master brightness (luminosity) of
the software output.
Contrast Controller:
This is the master contrast controller, which controls the master contrast of the software output.
Master volume Controller:
This master volume controller sets the global output volume for all visuals running with audio.
Note:
Cue Player tab is explained in the Cue Player session of the documentation.
Note:
The software supports MIDI input as long as the correct drivers are installed for your MIDI
hardware. As such MIDI control surfaces, buttons, faders and keys with direct USB
connection can also be used to provide a compact control surface.
note should be and how many
37
Keyboard shortcuts
“Learn” button can be used to detect the next key pressed and assign it as keyboard
shortcut.
Toggle Latch:
Key shortcut to toggle latch mode on and off.
Note:
Cue Player tab is explained in the Cue Player session of the documentation.
“ESC” key allows to cancel the learn operation.
“DEL” or “Backspace” can be used to remove a
keyboard shortcut.
Edit parameters for visual presets
At the top of each visual preset strip is an EDIT button. Clicking on this opens a dialog allowing
detailed configuration of each of the parameters for that particular visual preset.
Visual / Playback
Here you can define the library and visual numbers in the same way as on the visual preset
strip, but you can also specify the priority, audio volume and pan, loop mode, speed and “in”,
“out” and “start” settings of the video playback. You can also set the aspect ratio for the preset.
You can choose between: Stretch, auto, 4:3, 16:9, 16:10 and 5:4.
When the clip has an audio track, the speed settings will affect the audio playback also.
Loop Mode
The ‘Loop’ setting controls the way the video plays and loops. The available settings are:
Forward looping
Backward looping
Single shot forward (the video is played once then stops)
Single shot backward (the video is played backward once then stops)
Display first frame
Display last frame
Ping-pong (the video plays back and forth)
Single shot forward and freeze (the video is played once then stops on it’s last frame)
Single shot backward and freeze (the video is played backward once then stops on it’s first
frame)
Timecode (the video follows the Timecode received)
Speed/Timecode:
Defines the speed of the clip playback between 0% and 400%. You can change it with the
slider or by entering a value (this will also affect the audio speed, if the clip has audio).
When Timecode is selected the slider doesn’t change the speed but the frame offset or index
for the Timecode offset.
Loop In / Loop Out / Start Point
The first two sliders let you configure the start and end points of the loop. This is expressed as
a percentage. You can change it with the slider or by entering a value.
With the third slider you can set the point from where the video has to start.
Effect Configuration
MediaMaster offers a large number of built in effects. On a computer running Mac OS you can
also use the Quartz Composer Effects which are a part of the operating system.
These effects include 3D mapping, motion blur, color cycles, artistic graphic styles and many
more. Each effect can be added to individual visual presets or defined on it’s own visual preset
where it will overlay and effect across the complete output when recalled.
Each effect has up to four modifier parameters (i.e. speed, motion, intensity etc..) which can
be defined in every instance of its use.
Once you have customized an effect and its parameters you can store this as a new preset
effect (using the “Save to New” button), so you can build your own custom library of effects
with parameters adjusted to your needs.
Once you have created your custom library of effects, they can be quickly accessed in the
effect section of the visual preset strip using either the drop down list menu or the tall arrow
buttons to each side of the effect icon window.
39
Triggers:
Trigger settings are used to start / stop visual presets and control their intensity in the currently
selected patch. There are three possible triggers for each visual preset:
KEY
The keyboard key used to trigger this visual preset.
Use the “Learn” button to change the key assignment.
DMX
As information, the panel displays the DMX trigger channel for this visual preset.
The trigger channels can be configured in the “Show Settings” dialog.
MIDI
As information, the panel displays both MIDI trigger note and controller.
Those can be configured in the “Show Settings” dialog.
Position Parameters
Within each Visual Preset you can define a comprehensive set of position parameters. These
parameters can be defined for each visual preset but can also be saved (using “Save to New”)
in order to recall them for different preset visuals at a later stage.
Note:
The “Save to New” function can also be thought of as storing a palette on a lighting console
- for example if you have a set up using multiple screens or pixel mapping and want to
define specific position co-ordinates to ensure that certain content is sent to a specific
screen area or pixel mapped area you can position one piece of content and store this
position preset and then apply the same position preset to other pieces of content.
If at a later stage you need to adjust the preset you can recall it, edit the data and then
Save again. This will overwrite the previous preset and update this information in all presets
that use it – the same as updating a position palette for a piece of automated lighting.
Presets
The application comes shipped with a set of common position presets.
Shapes
The position can be defined in three shape types by selecting the
appropriate icon at the top of the position display: Flat Plane, 3D
Cube or Sphere.
For each of these types, the following attributes can be adjusted:
Pos X
Defines the top-left corner position of the image on the X axis – so for an image 800
pixels across with an 800 pixel wide output screen then a Pos X of 400 pixels places
this image centrally to the output.
Pos Y
Defines the top-left corner position of the image on the Y axis – so for an image 600
pixels high with an 600 pixel high output screen then a Pos Y off 300 pixels places this
image centrally to the output.
Pos Z
Expressed as a percentage the Z position moves the visual on a 3D plane – at 50% is
the default and the middle of the plane. Increasing this percentage moves the image
towards the viewer (zoom in) and decreasing moves it away from the viewer (zoom
out).
Width & Height
The maximum width and height of the visual content is the same as the maximum
screen size of output – so if you are working with an 800x600 pixel screen you cannot
have an image size larger than this.
Rot X
Rotation X
Rot Y
Rotation Y
Rot Z
Rotation Z
Auto Rotate
If you want the shape to rotate automatically without using a controller that changes value
continuously, you must use the auto rotate function; it will change the behavior of the parameter
to control the rotation speed.
The video output frame rate of a computer can go up to 60 frames per second and most
consoles will not send that many controller values per second, so you will have a smoother
result when using auto rotate.
Mixing Parameters
The mixing parameters allow you to configure the way in which the visual preset interacts with
other active visual presets (this can also be described as how the output is composed).
There are a number of standard presets for this but you can also create new presets (Save to
new) to suit your needs.
Max. Transparency
This defines the maximum level of the preset visual and is the same as creating a “top set” on
41
a lighting console.
For example if you set the Max. Transparency to 80% then even if you fade the visual in to the
top of its fader (full) you will still be able to see through it to the layer below.
Color Levels (Red/Green/Blue):
The three color sliders allow you to adjust the amount of each color to be represented in the
image. With all sliders at full (100%) then it is possible to achieve a white output. Once you
reduce any of these sliders then you limit the color tone of the image – this can be very useful
in adjusting clips to suit a particular color scheme or mood. It can also be helpful when creating
visuals for projection onto colored surfaces where adjusting the color balance can help to
ensure the original image is best represented against a tinted background.
Hue
Much used for color correction, hue lets you slide a virtual color wheel before your output.
Saturation
This defines how saturated the output will be.
Lightness
Lightness is often confused with brightness because they both make the output brighter but
the big difference is that where brightness adds light to everything (black becomes grey)
Lightness only adds light to the light areas so black remains black.
Copy Mode
The copy mode defines the basic composition between the current layer and previous layers.
MediaMaster supports the following options:
Replace: In this mode, the pixels of the Visual Preset are written on top of the previous
active layers. This is the default mode.
Addition: In this mode, the pixel values of the current layer are added to the ones of the
previous layers. This means that “dark” pixels in the current layer image won’t alter the
pixels that are underneath while “light” pixel will saturate the image underneath.
Subtraction: In this mode, the pixel values of the current layer are subtracted from the pixel
value in the underlying layers. Dark pixel from the current layer won’t alter the pixel of
the layers underneath while light pixel will darken them.
Multiplication: In this mode, the pixels from the current layer will be multiplied by the pixels
of the underlying layers. For a pixel to appear bright in the output, the equivalent pixel of
the current layer and the underlying layer needs to be bright. If any of the layers has a
dark pixel, the result will be dark.
Minimum: This mode takes the pixel that is the darkest between the current layer and the
layer underneath.
Maximum: This mode takes the pixel that is the brightest between the current layer and the
layer underneath.
Mask Mode – Chroma / Luminance Key
There are 5 basic mask modes for content. These affects how the content interacts with other
running content.
Keying is a technique where some pixels are made transparent depending on their
characteristics. Creating a Key is simply defining this interaction depending on the color or
brightness of a pixel.
Chrominance Keying (or Chromakey) – ‘removes’ pixels based on their colors – for example
the “blue screen” technique. Luminance Keying – ‘removes’ pixels based on their brightness
level.
The masking mode switches allow you to select, from left to right:
no keying
luminance keying (band reject)
luminance keying (band pass)
chrominance keying (band reject)
chrominance keying (band pass)
Band reject means that the selected luminance/color band will disappear while band pass will
let the selection through.
Mask Centre
The center of the mask defines midpoint tolerance of the mixing mode – varying this amount
will change the amount of pixels that can be seen based on the type of mask used.
Mask Size
This defines the range of the mask algorithm – generally speaking the higher the mask size
the more pixels can be seen from the layers underneath.
Fade Time
This function allows you to predefine the fade time for the Visual Preset when activated. The
default fade time is 0 milliseconds (ms). When a new fade time is set which can be anywhere
between 0 and 10,000 milliseconds (0-10seconds) the fade down timing is also taken from this
parameter setting.
The fade time is set as a complete fade from 0 – 100%, if you choose to fade the layer from 050% it will take half of the preset fade time.
Tiling
The Tiling Function allows you to tile the output of that visual preset. At 0% the visual preset
takes up the whole screen – as you increase the percentage the visual preset is tiled numerous
times to fill the screen area with each tile presented at the same aspect ratio as the full screen
output.
43
The Cue Player
Overview
The Cue Player automates playback of visual presets and allows you to play a predefined
sequence of visuals during a show or an event.
The many synchronization options give precise control over the timing to trigger different
visuals sequentially or in parallel. The playback of cue lists can be triggered by DMX, MIDI,
timecode or with a keyboard.
With a few clicks the Cue Player can help you create a sequence of videos with cross-fading.
But possibilities are endless to help you prepare a complete show with the full mixing
capabilities offered by MediaMaster.
Getting started
To get started, let’s create a very basic cue list and play it back through four easy steps:
1. In the Theater Mode interface, click on the “Cue Player” toggle button to open the
Cue Player panel at the bottom of the interface. Locate the Cue Player toolbar
with some playback buttons on the top of the Cue Player panel.
2. In the “cue list” drop down list, select “New” to create a new cue list. A cue list is a
Your cue list with a unique cue should play back. These steps covered the very basics. The
next sections will explain further the interface and all features.
sequence of successive or parallel cues to be played during a show.
3. To add a first cue, press the “Cue” button on top of the visual preset you want to
play in your cue list. A “cue” represents a visual that has been prepared to be
displayed at a precise moment in a show.
4. Press the “Play” button in the Cue Player toolbar.
Cue info
Cue
Priority
Synchronization Mode
Playback progression
Previous cue
Play
Pause
Stop
Next cue
Play time
Cue list drop down list
Add cue
Delete cues
Toggle display
Filter list
Visual
The Cue Player interface
The Toolbar
The play time is displayed in HH:MM’SS”T (hours, minutes, seconds, tenth of seconds).
The cue list drop-down list is used to switch to another cue list or to add, erase or remove a
cue list.
The filter drop-down list is used to show only cues with a given priority or free-run cues. It is
sometimes more convenient to focus on the sequence of cues for a given priority, and for some
other tasks to see cues of all priorities interleaved.
Toggle display switches from displaying the cue name and ID to the duration and time offset.
The Cue List
A cue list is a horizontal sequence of cues. A scroll bar allows to display and change the visible
section of the full cue list.
Cue Selection
Cues can be selected to edit their properties. Shift, Ctrl or Cmd keys can be used for multi
selection to delete or move multiple Cues at once. Only one cue can be edited at a time. Cues
can be dragged along the Cue List to change their order.
Adding a Cue
There are three ways to add a Cue:
A. If no Cue is selected, clicking on the ‘+’ button will add an empty Cue at the end.
B. If a Cue is selected, clicking on the ‘+’ button will insert an empty Cue before the
selected Cue.
C. Pressing the ‘Cue’ button at the top of a visual preset will add a cue at the end.
If some cues were selected, their visual presets will get replaced instead.
45
Cue name
Name or free reference to identify the cue.
Cue ID
Unique ID number to identify the cue [read only].
Visual preset
Index of the visual preset in the specified patch [read only].
Intensity
Percentage of intensity to playback to cue.
Sync mode
Synchronization mode of the cue.
Time offset
Time
[1]
offset to start cue in Follow or Delay mode.
Timecode
Time
[1]
that the timecode signal should pass to trigger the cue.
Reference cue
To synchronize against another cue than the default previous one.
Hold
Indicates to hold the cue playing until next Halt cue starts.
Active cue
Each cue must be linked to a visual preset. Any later change to a visual preset will
automatically affect all cues linked to it.
Double-clicking on a cue visual thumbnail will highlight the corresponding visual preset.
Cue List Playback
To start playing cues, press either the Play button or double-click on a cue outside its visual
thumbnail. Pressing Alt key while double-clicking will start playing the cue without stopping
any cues that are already running.
An active cue is one that is currently playing. It is displayed with a transparent filling bar on
top of the thumbnail to show the playback progression.
While playing, the cue list will automatically scroll to show the active cues on screen.
Properties Panel
Properties reflect either the selected cue or the cue list itself if no cue is selected. They are
grouped in multiple tabs.
Cue Properties
Main Tab
Timing Tab
Fading Tab
Fade in
Indicates to fade in the visual.
Fade in duration
Fade in duration
[1]
.
Fade out
Indicates to fade out the visual.
Fade out duration
Fade out duration
[1]
.
Name
Name of the cue list.
Loop at end
Restart the cue list when the end is reached.
Timecode offset
Applies an offset to all timecode defined in the cue list.
Halt
The operator needs to press explicitly the Play button or send a DMX
or MIDI trigger to play the cue.
Follow
Play the cue after a given time offset when the previous or reference
cue ends.
Delay
Play the cue after a given time offset when the previous or reference
cue starts.
Timecode
Play the cue when the timecode has passed the given time.
Crossfade
Play Cues to follow each other with a small overlap to perform a
crossfading.
Cue List Properties
Cue List Tab
[1] Times, offsets or durations can be defined with any hour, minute, second or millisecond specification like
in the following examples: “1h 23m 15s 900ms”, “1h 23s”, “50m 15ms”
Synchronization Modes
A cue has one of the following Synchronization mode:
The Synchronization mode can be changed either by right-clicking on a Cue or by editing the
cue properties.
Priority Layers
Introduced by the visual presets, each cue is associated to a priority layer to determine if the
visual should be played as background, normal or foreground.
The priority filter dropdown list allows to focus on one priority layer at the time. Each cue is
synchronized by default to the previous cue on the same priority layer. In other words
background, normal and foreground cues run by default in parallel.
By using filters, it becomes easier to handle the sequence and the transitions of cues to be
played for each priority layer successively. That means focusing on background sequence
first, then adding normal priority content and finally adding visuals on foreground.
Halt cues
Halt cues interrupt the show until the user asks to continue. They interrupt cues and are
visible on all priority layers. A Halt cue activates when all cues before and with any priority
47
have finished. If a cue has the property Hold, then it will continue to play until the show
continues again.
Cues of any priority placed after a Halt will only play once the Halt event has been passed.
Also a cue can’t reference another cue if separated by a Halt. Only freerun Cues can
reference any Cue.
Demo cue list
A demo cue list is deployed when a new library is created. If you use currently an existing
library, you can still create a new library to see the demo cue list. In the Library Management
dialog, click the button “Set Root folder…” and specify the location where the new Library
should be deployed.
Advanced Topics
Reference Cue
By default the synchronization of a cue is done relative to the previous cue on the same priority
layer. But each cue can also specify explicitly another cue to be used as the reference cue or
“origin” to refer to the start of the cue list.
By setting an explicit reference cue ID, for instance multiple cues can be synchronized to the
same cue or cues can be synchronized between multiple priority layers.
A Cue will display a link icon to show that an explicit reference cue has been specified.
Freerun Cue
Freerun cues run independently of the main flow of the cue list, can reference any cue and are
not interrupted by Halt cues. They can be triggered by timecode at any moment.
Freerun cues allow the Cue Player to provide a convincing solution to trigger visual presets
by timecode with fade-in and fade-out at the end. They also provide a good option to prepare
visual patterns that can be triggered at any moment in a show.
To create freerun cues, select a freerun filter in the filter drop-down list and add cues to it.
Cues or freerun cues can’t reference a cue with a bigger ID (further on the right when
displayed with “all” priority filter). An exception are freerun cues which can reference any non-
freerun cue. Also cues can never reference a freerun cue.
Mixing of Multiple Cues
The Cue Player is used to automate the playback of different visual presets. But in the end,
the rules of the Theater mode still apply to mix together the multiple active visual presets.
All visual preset parameters (playback, looping, effect, positioning, priority, mixing and
output) can be used to leverage the full mixing capability of MediaMaster through the Cue
Player.
Delay synchronization mode, priority layers and freerun cues give various solutions to play
multiple cues simultaneously. In addition, other visual presets can still be driven by DMX,
MIDI or mouse and keyboard and mixed together while the Cue Player is running.
Chan.
Name
Def.
Chan.
Ranges
Def.
Val.
Loc.
Val.
Snap/
Instant
Category
Cue List
[1]
30
0-255 0 0
YES
BEAM
Cue
[1]
31
0-255 0 0
YES
BEAM
Cue Player Control
[2]
32
0-7 None
8-15 Play
16-23 Pause
24-31 Stop
32-39 Previous Cue
40-47 Next Cue
48-55 Toggle Play/Pause
56-63 Change Cue List
64-71 Jump to Cue
0 8 YES
BEAM
Cue Player
Play
33
0-127 Trigger off
128-255 Trigger on
[3]
0 0 YES
BEAM
Cue Player
Pause
34
0-127 Trigger off
128-255 Trigger on
[3]
0 0 YES
BEAM
Cue Player
Stop
35
0-127 Trigger off
128-255 Trigger on
[3]
0 0 YES
BEAM
Cue Player
Previous Cue
36
0-127 Trigger off
128-255 Trigger on
[3]
0 0 YES
BEAM
Cue Player
Next Cue
37
0-127 Trigger off
128-255 Trigger on
[3]
0 0 YES
BEAM
Cue Player
Toggle Play/Pause
38
0-127 Trigger off
128-255 Trigger on
[3]
0 0 YES
BEAM
Cue Player
Change Cue List
[1]
39
0-127 Trigger off
128-255 Trigger on
[3]
0 0 YES
BEAM
Cue Player
Jump to Cue
[1]
40
0-127 Trigger off
128-255 Trigger on
[3]
0 0 YES
BEAM
Cue Player DMX, MIDI and Keyboard Controls
DMX Chart Extension
[1] Cue and Cue List can be changed by first selecting their indices and then triggering either Change Cue
List or Jump to Cue.
[2] Actions triggers the first time a value in a new action range is received.
[3] Action triggers when the DMX value changes from below 128 to above or equal 128.
49
Controllers / Notes
Def. ID
Def. Channel
Cue List Controller
100
OMNI
Cue Controller
101
OMNI
Play Note
102
OMNI
Pause Note
103
OMNI
Stop Note
104
OMNI
Previous Cue Note
105
OMNI
Next Cue Note
106
OMNI
Toggle Play/Pause Note
107
OMNI
Action
Cue Player Play
Cue Player Pause
Cue Player Stop
Cue Player Previous Cue
Cue Player Next Cue
Cue Player Toggle Play/Pause
MIDI Chart Extension
Keyboard Shortcuts
Note:
All keyboard, MIDI and DMX controls can be tweaked in the Show Settings dialog.
Using the software – Fixture Mode
The main window
The Fixture Mode interface of the software has been laid out to provide a maximum number of
information in a single window. Although the software has been conceived primarily to be used
with DMX control, all functionalities are also available through the software interface.
The main window is organized around three main areas:
Previews area
The top left part of the main window shows the visuals selected
on each of the 12 layers. We refer to those as the “layer
preview”. Next to each layer preview is a vertical gauge that
shows the mixing level (or transparency, or dimmer) of the layer.
If the level is set to zero, no output is shown. As you drag the
Intensity slider up, the layer will become brighter and the layer
underneath will disappear.
The numbers show the elapsed time (E) and remaining time (R) of the visual.
Master output area
The Master Output is the same as in Theater Mode, it is detailed at page 32.
Status Indicators
The Status Indicators are the same as in Theater Mode, they are described at page 33.
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Layer parameter area
Under the layer previews, you find the layer parameter area. This area displays all the settings
for the ‘current’ layer. The current layer is the one whose mixing slider is blue, as show in the
picture above. To select another layer, either click in its preview window or on its mixing slider.
The settings of the current layer reflect all the control parameters accessible for that layer and
will follow any DMX control sent from the console.
The parameters are grouped in relevant sections for easier reading:
Visuals
To manually change the visual selected on the current layer, simply change the values under
“Library” and “Visual”. The layer preview should show you the visual running. If it doesn’t, make
sure the mixing slider for the layer is not set to zero.
MediaMaster comes with some pre-installed visuals. To set up your own set of visuals, refer to
the “Library Management” section on page 59 in this document.
The value under “Texts” lets you chose from the 255 different texts strings to use with the Flash
Texts included with MediaMaster. Flash Texts are Flash animations created with a special text
statement that is dynamically replaced by the text string you select here. For more information
on the Text Library, please refer to page 64 in this document.
The aspect ratio button enables you to change the aspect ratio for this layer.
Effects
then use the rotary button to modify the effect parameters. The range of effect available is
depending on the fixture selected. For more information on effects availability, refer to the
“Fixtures DMX Chart – Pro Version” section on page 130.
Important note:
For performance reasons, effects are by default NOT applied on the preview of the layer.
You will see the full composition, including effects on the master preview but not on the
individual layer preview windows. If you have a very powerful graphics card, you can
change this setting, in the Preference Dialog. Refer to the “Preferences Dialog” section at
page 66 for more information.
This zone shows the visual currently selected on
the layer. Visuals are organized in libraries for
easier access. There are 256 libraries each
containing up to 255 visuals (one visual slot is
reserved as a blank image).
Some libraries are also reserved for special usage
(flash texts, acquisitions input and masking) but
most of them are user configurable through the
visual library management dialog.
This zone displays the effect setting for the
current layer. Effects are also organized in
libraries for easier grouping. Each effect
can have up to four parameters that are
displayed on the right side of the panel.
Selecting an effect is done by modifying the
values into the “Library” / “Effect” fields,
Effects can do many things like alter color or deform a visual but some can also be useful to
apply more “subtle” modifications to your visuals when you can’t alter them and re-encode
them.
Note that this is just an example and that cropping can be done more efficiently using the
cropping zone.
Playback
Forward looping
Backward looping
Single shot forward (the video is played once then stops)
Single shot backward (the video is played once then stops)
Display first frame (useful when setting the segment start)
Display last frame (useful when setting the segment end)
Ping-pong (the video plays back and forth)
Single shot forward and freeze (the video is played once then stops on its last frame)
Single shot backward and freeze (the video is played once then stops on its last frame)
Timecode (the video follows the Timecode received)
Next to the loop setting is the movie speed control. The movie speed rotary control allows to
speed-up or slow down the movie playback. If set to zero, the movie will stop (freeze frame).
When Timecode is selected the rotary doesn’t change the speed but the frame offset or index
for the Timecode offset.
Under the loop setting is the “Segment” zone, that’s where you define the portion of the movie
you wish to play by selecting the first and the last frame.
When setting the first and last frame, it is recommended to use the “Display first/last frame”
playback mode described above so that the frame you are adjusting is continuously displayed
in the preview.
You can also set the start point. This is the frame from which your visual has to start playing.
Once started this point is ignored and the whole chosen segment of the visual will play.
For example the cropping effect can be
particularly useful to get rid of
unwanted content in the frame, when
doing live camera acquisition. For that
purpose we have made available four
pre-set cropping settings in Effect
Library 3 (Effects 32/33/34/35) and one
fully parametric in Effect Library 8
(Effect 10).
These are the controls affecting
the way your visuals (mainly
videos) are played.
“Loop” controls how the video
plays and loops. The available
settings are, in order:
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Composition Modes
The “Modes” define how the current layer will be ‘composed’ with the previous layer.
Addition: In this mode, the pixel values of the current layer are added to the ones of the
previous layers. This means that “dark” pixels in the current layer image won’t alter the
pixels that are underneath while “light” pixel will saturate the image underneath.
Subtraction: In this mode, the pixel values of the current layer are subtracted from the pixel
value in the underlying layers. Dark pixel from the current layer won’t alter the pixel of
the layers underneath while light pixel will darken them.
Multiplication: In this mode, the pixels from the current layer will be multiplied by the pixels
of the underlying layers. For a pixel to appear bright in the output, the equivalent pixel of
the current layer and the underlying layer needs to be bright. If any of the layers has a
dark pixel, the result will be dark.
Minimum: This mode takes the pixel that is the darkest between the current layer and the
layer underneath
Maximum: This mode takes the pixel that is the brightest between the current layer and the
layer underneath.
“Mask Mode” lets you setup up luminance and chrominance keying. Keying is a technique
where some pixels are made transparent depending on some of their characteristics.
Luminance keying ‘removes’ pixels based on their brightness level while chrominance keying
removes pixels based on their colors. A typical example of chrominance keying is the ‘blue
screen’ technique.
The Mask Mode switches let you select, from left to right:
no keying
luminance keying (band reject)
luminance keying (band pass)
chrominance keying (band reject)
chrominance keying (band pass)
Band reject means that the selected luminance/color band will disappear while band pass will
let the selection through.
When luminance or chrominance keying is selected, a new widget will show up allowing
selecting which part of the spectrum/brightness level should be affected:
inside the scale. The two top points will define the zone of the scale that is selected (filter
width). In between those points, the color/brightness will be totally passed or rejected
(depending on the mode selected).
The widget has four points that can be moved. These points are
always centered in the middle of the widget so, to define the
center of the color/brightness scale, you need to click and drag
“Copy Mode” is the basic composition between
the current layer and previous layers. MediaMaster
supports the following options:
Copy: In this mode, the layer’s pixels are written
on top of the previous layers. This is the default
mode. The slider next to the layer preview acts as
a transparency control for the layer.
The lower points allow to set the smoothness at which pixel will appear / disappear (filter slope).
If the lower points too are close to the top points, the masking will be very abrupt and some
artifacts might show up.
Mapping
Position
The slider next to it allows zooming in/out by specifying a Z (depth) offset. The three rotaries
on the right side specify 3 rotation angles in the 3D space. Note that next to each rotary is a
switch that allows the rotary to act either as an absolute angle setting or as a rotation speed.
Output
Color
Lightness brings some more light into the layer without affecting the black values.
The mapping setting allows projecting the visual and the effect on a 3D
object. You can choose between a plane (this is the default mode), a
cube and a sphere. When mapped, the video becomes a texture
projected on the object.
At this stage, you can also change the tiling (number of times the visual
is repeated on the object).
The position panel allows you to
control the position of the layer’s
output in a 2D or 3D space.
The square position widget allows
setting up both the layer’s position
and size.
You can use this feature if you want
display the layer output in the top
left corner for example.
The output panel let you select the outputs on
which you want to display the layer.
From here, you can also open the “Output
management” dialog (cf. “Output
management” on page 99)
The color panel let you modify the hue, saturation,
lightness and color of the layer.
These settings are extremely useful for color correction.
Hue is like a color wheel that you hold before your visual.
Saturation let you select how saturated you want your
layer to be.
55
Red, Green and Blue let you modify the red, green and blue values.
Brightness and Contrast can be adapted for each layer separately.
Cropping
Sound
The sound panel let you select the volume and pan for
each layer.
The cropping panel let you crop the layer
so you can show exactly what you want.
You can even select the softness of the
edges.
This is very useful when working with live
camera input.
Media Types
Video
MediaMaster can playback a large number of video files through its native decoder, which is
based on FFMPEG. The compression codec that we have found to give the best overall
performances is MPEG-2.
This said, the software has been designed to make best use of your computer system and
therefore should be able to play files encoded with most of the video codecs you have installed
on your system. However by using a codec that is not native to MediaMaster you will increase
the drain on your system resources and therefore you may encounter performance issues
depending on your hardware profile.
With a MultiCore CPU, MediaMaster will use all CPU’s when necessary, so the basic rule if
you intend to play high definition content would be to have a system with at least the same
number of cores as the number of high definition layers you want to play.
Note:
The compression codec, file size and type can have an effect on the reliability and quality
of playback depending on your hardware configuration and show type. For example a show
which uses 8 layers of HD video simultaneously will require much more processing power
than one using low resolution video or stills to drive LED pixel mapping.
Alpha source support
If you import images or videos with an alpha channel (for example
as a result of green keying), the transparency of the media will be
used in the mixing.
When setting the preview style to “Full” (cf. ”Performances Tab”
at page 76) you will see the transparent areas in the layer
preview, no matter if it comes from the original media or from
applying luminance / chrominance inside the software.
Images
MediaMaster will accept the following file types into the library for still images:
JPG, BMP, GIF and PNG
You can import images that are bigger than the output resolution but for performance reason
you images should never be bigger than the output resolution used. Only when using specific
effects you may need to import images that are bigger than the resolution used in MediaMaster.
Audio
When an audio loops has a video track it will be played. For performance reason you may not
want to play the audio, this can be done by going in the preferences in the Audio tab; there you
can select the output devices and set it to “No Audio”.
The best synchronization between audio and video is achieve by selecting “System Clock” in
the Display preference panel under “Timing Reference”
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Generators
Those are music visualizers that react to the sound of the audio input of your system.
Some generators are GPU accelerated effects while others are SWF Flash files.
You can create custom generators with Flash, the ArKaos PRO Blog has tutorial articles to get
you started.
Effects
Under Mac OS X, MediaMaster allows to use Quartz Composer .qtz files directly, both as
sources and effects. The compositions are rendered natively through the fastest available
interface.
You can import .qtz files as sources simply by adding them to your media library, just like you
import any standard movie.
Adding Quartz compositions as effects is a little bit trickier because it involves modifying the
default fixture to be able to control your effects. It is however possible to achieve this and if you
would like to go that way, please contact us and we’ll help you.
Cameras / External Sources
MediaMaster will accept as source any live input that is connected to your computer, as long
as it is natively recognized by your system (i.e. without the need to install proprietary drivers or
software).
Your acquisition device must be compatible with QuickTime under Mac OS X and Direct X
under Windows.
Libraries
The following settings and preferences are accessed from the “Edit” menu at the top of the
software window in Windows OS or on the application menu bar at the top of the screen in Mac
OS.
Library Management
Overview and Library Concept
MediaMaster uses a library system of folders and files to help organize your content and allow
for quick selection of media as required. The Library is made up of 256 folders, each of which
can contain up to 256 media clips or visual effects.
No matter what library folder you are in, the visual number 0 is blank – meaning that if you
select 0 then no visual is displayed.
Root Folder
At first launch, MediaMaster will ask you to define the root folder for you media library. When
you do that, MediaMaster will automatically generate a series of specific folders for preinstalled media content and effects.
Media Folders and Naming Conventions
Within this root folder each media folder needs to be named with a three digit number (001 –
255) followed by an underscore and then the name of the folder. You can name the folder as
you wish but spaces are not allowed. For example if you wanted folder 1 to be called assorted
clouds the naming convention would be “001_assorted_clouds”
Note:
If the name of the folder or files doesn’t match this format then it will simply be ignored by
MediaMaster.
You can also change the name of the folder within the Library Management window by right
clicking on the folder and selecting “Rename…” from the pop up menu.
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The library window looks like this:
The left pane of the window shows the 256 library folders with the selected folder highlighted
in blue. You can scroll through the list and select any of the folders by clicking on its icon.
The right pane displays the thumbnails of the visuals contained within the selected folder.
There are 255 visuals per folder (the fist one is always considered as an empty slot) and where
content doesn’t exist then the thumbnail will display “empty”. You can scroll through the content
using the scroll bar on the right side of the window.
If you put the mouse pointer over an existing visual, you will see it’s full filename as well as its
resolution.
All regular content folders are indicated by a folder icon, and display the library number as well
as its name.
You can add, remove, and duplicate your content inside those folders as you wish either using
the computers own filing system or through the library management window in MediaMaster.
These generators are pixel / particle based and can be great for integration with a live DJ or
music set. The sound input from your computer is used to feed these – be it microphone
(default) or line input and this is selected in the main software preferences.
The default libraries that are used for specific purposes are at
the top end of the library structure (folders 240 onwards) and
have different icons relating to their content and purpose.
Folder 240 is reserved for Generators. Generators are
modules that react to the audio input to generate visuals in
much the same way as the visualizer is employed in iTunes
or Windows Media Player.
The default library contains a good set of example files, the folder 250 provides improved Flash
Text animations where the text area is adjusted depending on the string length while the folder
251 provides lots of useful text animations. Folder 249 is specialized for subtitles or lyrics
display.
Video input is seen here in a very broad sense; it can be an acquisition board, a USB web cam,
a FireWire cam or any other video inputs seen be the system.
Note:
The number of live video inputs is limited only by your computer system, so by using
multiple USB video inputs such as webcams you can arrange a large number of video feeds
all of which can be triggered or mixed within the software.
The live video input can also use the same effects processing as the standard media files.
Folder 241 is a virtual folder (in the sense that it doesn’t refer
to anything on the file system) that will list the first four Syphon
or Spout inputs available.
Folder 242 is reserved for Audio Reactive Flash animations.
These are Flash animations that reacts to the audio input
(with ActionScript) in the same way as the pixel / particle
generators in folder 240 but with flash (vector) graphics. You
can load your own flash generators into this folder in addition
to the supplied files.
Folders 243 to 248 are reserved for future development and
cannot be used. This is to make sure that future
developments will not clash with existing customer
configurations.
Folders from 249 to 253 are reserved for Flash Text
animations in which you can dynamically change the text
string. Selection of the text string is based on the pre-defined
text you create in the text library.
This library is a virtual folder (in the sense that it doesn’t refer
to anything on the file system) that will list all available video
inputs found on the machine when the software loads.
The last library is the ‘mask’ library. Its content is used to
provide the master output mask as described earlier in the
‘master output area’. Masks are more likely to be black and
white images as they are multiplied with the image resulting
of the composition of all layers. With that respect, the mask
acts as a transparency film where a white is fully transparent
and a black pixel is fully opaque.
Building your libraries
Managing the content is fairly easy. You can add, remove and rename medias directly with the
user interface.
In order to try and achieve the fastest playback and quickest response, MediaMaster preloads
all the media content contained within the library at startup until it reaches available memory
(RAM) limit. At this point, it starts unloading movies. Starting a movie that has been unloaded
(to free memory) will take a little more time depending on the movie format (check
recommended movie formats in ‘Movie Compression’, further in this document).
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If you need to work on several shows, it is probably better to build several dedicated libraries
rather than filling one with all the content. The application will start faster and there is less
chance of movies being unloaded due to ram requirements.
If you are continually running large shows with a lot of media – especially if the media is high
resolution then ensuring you have the maximum amount of RAM installed in your computer will
help the performance of the software.
Adding visuals to the library
To add content to any of the folders in the library, you have several options:
A) Drag and drop files from the explorer/finder window on the library folder where you want
them to be. By doing so, the files you drag and drop will be copied in the first empty slots
available in the folder.
B) Drag and drop files to a specific slot in the folder content. This allows you to specifically set
the starting slot of the file or to overwrite existing files. If you drop the files to an empty slot, the
files will be set in all empty slots starting with the one where files were dropped. If you drop the
file to a slot containing already a visual, you will be asked if you want to overwrite the existing
file(s) or start at the first empty slot after the one you dropped the files on.
C) Right click on a slot and select ‘Import/Replace Visual…’ from the context menu to import a
single file to a give location.
When you delete or overwrite files in the media library, the files will be physically erased from
the hard drive. Make sure you always have a copy of your original files somewhere else. Also,
if you drag files from the explorer to the media library, the files will be copied from their original
location to the media library, preserving the original files.
Removing visuals from the library
To delete content from the library, right-click/Cmd-click a slot with the visual you would like to
delete and select ‘Remove Visual…’ from the context menu. Again, be warned that removing
the visual will physically erase it from the hard drive.
Moving visuals in the library
To move a visual inside the library, simply drag and drop it within the folder. To move the visual
to another library folder, simply drag and drop it from its slot to one of the folders in the left
pane. The visual will be assigned to the first free slot in the target folder.
Renaming folders
To rename a folder, simply right-click / CTRL + click the folder and select ‘Rename…’ from the
context menu.
File system
The library structure is reflected on the hard drive where all files for the library are stored. The
whole library is contained within a special folder called the ‘root folder’. If you look at the
installation folders, you will see the default root folder called media.
Inside the root folder is a collection of folders each starting with a 3-digit number followed by
an underscore and a name. Each folder following this convention represents a library folder
(as seen in the left pane of the media management dialog) and the 3-digit number represents
the id of the folder. Because of this, you can’t have folders without the 3 digit number scheme.
Neither is it possible to have two folders starting with the same three numbers (one of them
will be ignored).
Inside each folder is the collection of media that the library folder holds. The media also follow
the 3-digit conventions with the digits representing the visual number inside the library. Note
that for visuals the digit starts at 001_ since visual 0 is always considered as being empty.
If you wish, you can organize your libraries by modifying the files on your hard drive directly.
However, the changes you do there are not updated automatically in the software while it’s
running. If you want to software to take into account changes done on the file system, go in the
media management dialog and click on the ‘refresh library’ button at the bottom of the window.
Changing the root folder
As seen earlier, MediaMaster loads all the visuals in the library at startup to ensure a smooth
startup of medias when triggered. Because of that, and depending on the capacity of your
hardware, having a huge library can have a very big impact on startup time and memory usage.
If you are doing several shows using MediaMaster, we recommend building several library
structures so you don’t hog the memory with files you won’t need. To switch between different
libraries, you simply need to specify a new ‘root folder’ using the button at the bottom of the
media management dialog.
When specifying a new root folder, the current library content will be unloaded and the content
in the new root folder will be loaded instead.
Note:
For the library to be properly loaded, it is mandatory that the folders and files located under
the root folder follow the 3 digits convention as explained in the previous paragraph. If you
don’t see a folder or file in the library, it is most likely you didn’t follow the proper file naming.
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Text Library
The text library is a dialog used to
enter text that can later be
combined with special media files
called ‘flash texts’. These medias
are by default present in the library
numbers 250 (improved
animations), 251 (Theater
animations) and 252 (audio
reactive animations).
When selecting one of these
media, you can use the text
parameter of the layer to change
the displayed text by one of the
strings defined in the text library.
The content of the text library can be edited using a special dialog that can be recalled by
selecting the menu Edit > Text management or, alternatively, by pressing CTRL+T / Cmd+T.
The dialog lists the 255 text entries of the library that can be edited by simply replacing the text
item next to the item number.
When pressing ‘OK’ in the dialog, the text library will be updated and the new text item can be
selected.
Lyrics Player
In MediaMaster 5, the text engine has been extended to support Lyrics. The 255 slots of the
Text Library can specify a text, a .txt file or a .srt subtitle file with timing information.
You can select the files directly from the Text Library window, by clicking on the ‘…’ button:
Text or subtitle files get automatically
imported in the library. The Edit button,
lets you open and edit the file in your
default associated editor.
In Theater mode, when a text file or
subtitle file is chosen, and when you
select a text visual from folders 249 to
253, then you automatically get three
buttons exposed on the right of the
intensity slider, to respectively go to
Next line, Previous line and to Reset
to the first line of the file.
If some controllers were already mapped for the visual preset, then
those will be maintained. But you can always select manually the lyrics
controllers afterwards. Like any controller, those actions can be
triggered via MIDI or DMX.
If you have a visual file and subtitles associated, you need to play the
visual and the subtitles on two separate visual presets.
A set of specially designed Flash Text Animations are provided for subtitles and lyrics in folder
249 & 250 (visuals 4, 5, 17).
Subtitle files ‘.srt’ are standard for subtitles and they can easily be found on internet.
Real-time reload
If texts or subtitle files get directly modified on disk, then texts will automatically be reloaded
and the new text will be displayed in MediaMaster.
Timecode offsets
The Timecode offsets is a dialog
used to enter times that can later be
used for offsetting Timecode driven
videos.
The content of the Timecode offsets
can be edited using a special dialog
that can be recalled by selecting the
menu Edit > Timecode offsets or,
alternatively, by pressing CTRL+O /
Cmd+O.
Values 0 to 127 are mapped to offset
-64 to 63. Values 128 to 255 are
mapped to the Timecode offsets
index.
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Preferences Dialog
The Preferences dialog is where you configure all the main user options in MediaMaster. It is
organized with a series of header tabs and clicking on each of these will display the relevant
information.
Application Tab
The Application Tab contains some general
settings for the application.
Mode (MediaMaster Pro only)
This is where you can switch the software interface to either Theater Mode or Fixture Mode
(read “Control Concepts” at page 22), you will have to quit and restart the software for the
changes to take effect.
Server Name
This is a unique name you give to your instance of MediaMaster running, so that it can be
recognized over a network.
Activate fullscreen at startup
For most temporary or touring applications this is unlikely to be needed but for installations in
venues where you want the system online as quickly as possible and the same output is being
used every time, enabling this ensures that the output appears as soon as the software is
loaded.
Start maximized
Start MediaMaster in a maximized window taking the whole screen.
Autostart cue list
Tells Cue Player to directly start playing the selected cue list after the software is loaded.
Output Tab
The Output tab contains the settings related to the software’s outputs, which can be Display
outputs, LED Mapper output and Kling-Net output.
In the Display panel, you can choose between two different modes:
Using the 'Instant mode', you can directly output visuals full screen to a set of similar displays
using a single resolution for all. MediaMaster considers this set as a single output.
In the 'Video Mapper mode', you will define a set of surfaces on the different displays that
are connected to your computer using the Video Mapper application. In this mode, each
display can have its own resolution, and each surface created on a display is considered
as a separate output by MediaMaster, meaning that each surface can display a different
set of visuals.
Instant mode
The Display panel contains the setup related to
the full screen or output mode of the software. As
previously stated MediaMaster is designed to be
used with at least a two display set-up where
displays starting from the 2nd carry the full screen
output from the software.
As such the first video output is used to display
the main interface containing all the previews and
parameters while the second video output is used
to send the full screen image to a projection
hardware.
This dialog is used to specify the characteristics
of the adapter used for the full screen.
Full screen Display
This specifies on which adapter the full screen will be displayed. Normally the select box should
contain at least two entries. If it does not, it means the system doesn’t think you have twooutput setup. To correct this, go into the system properties and make sure the display settings
are such as you have two displays recognized by the system. Make also sure your displays
are setup to provide dual-mode and not cloning. For more discussions on screen setup, see
‘Widescreen & multiscreen presentation’ at page 80.
Resolution
This setting specifies the resolution at which the graphical engine should run. The lower it is,
the faster the engine can go and the better the frame rate gets but the lower the quality of the
result is. The list of resolutions shown in the drop down menu is dependent on the output device
– for example if you are connected to a projector with a maximum resolution of 1024x768 pixels
then this will be the maximum you can configure in this box.
Use Custom Resolution: use this option if you want to specify manually the internal engine
speed to a resolution that is not a display resolution. In the case this option is selected, the
‘Force Resolution’ option will automatically be disabled.
Force Resolution: if this option is enabled (default) the software will resize the display output
to the engine resolution when going to full screen. Unless specific case, it is often better and
more efficient to leave it on.
When "Force Resolution" is checked, the output will be displayed full screen. This mode
guaranties the best performances and screen synchronization.
When "Force Resolution" is unchecked, the output will be displayed within a top-left
aligned window.
Multi-Display arrangement (Windows only)
It is possible to display the output of MediaMaster across all the displays connected to a graphic
card without using the "spanning" feature that is only available under windows XP.
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It can be used to avoid going through Matrox DualHead2Go or TrippleHead2Go interfaces if
your video card has 2, 3 or more outputs.
This feature is available under Windows XP, Vista and Seven.
The "Resolution" pop-up menu now proposes multiple-display setups (i.e. "1024x768x2" for a
2048x768 horizontal setup or 1024x1536 vertical setup) in addition to the standard singledisplay resolutions.
The "Multi-Display Arrangement" is there for you to choose the way you want to arrange your
monitors. MediaMaster uses this information in combination with the actual Windows display
arrangement to determine a correct output.
Note:
Under Mac OS X it is also possible to span the output of MediaMaster over several displays
by simply select the display on the top-left and use a custom resolution that will cover the
multi-screen setup area.
Soft Edge Span
This option allows you to specify how many projectors you are using to map the whole screen
vertically and horizontally. Unless you are using the soft edging function of the software, you
should leave this option to 1 for both fields.
In the soft edge span the first box is the number of horizontal screens and the second box is
the number of vertical screens – so for a triple screen system in a horizontal configuration you
would insert 3 and then 1 into the number fields.
Please refer to “Soft-Edge” at page 85 for more explanations about setting up and calibrating
Soft-Edge span.
Geometric correction & Soft-Edge per output (MediaMaster Pro)
It is possible to warp the output per screen and adapt the soft edge on each side of an output.
These settings can be accessed via the "Geometric Correction" button near the soft edge span
dimensions on the Display tab of the preferences dialog in MediaMaster Pro.
The number and arrangement of the outputs is determined by the soft edge span dimensions.
Geometric correction
Thanks to the Geometric correction you can correct output deformations via a correction grid.
Shortcut
Action
F1/F2
Add/Remove Horizontal Control Point
F3/F4
Add/Remove Vertical Control Point
R
Reset Control Points
M
Cycle Through Correction Modes
Arrow Keys
Move Control Points Per Pixel
CTRL + A
Select All Control Points
CTRL + Click
Select Multiple Control Points
The dialog is divided in three main zones: the screen arrangement, the toolbar and the
correction grid. Via the clickable screen output arrangement, at the top left of the dialog, it is
possible to switch between the correction grids of the different screen outputs.
A normal output is represented by a blue rectangle and the overall correction grid is
represented by an orange rectangle. With this overall correction grid it is possible to apply a
correction over all displays at once. This is especially useful if you are using multiple outputs
to project on one curved screen.
From the drop-down list on the toolbar, you can choose from four different correction types,
namely:
No Correction: If you don’t want to apply geometric correction to this screen. In this way
MediaMaster knows that it can bypass the geometric correction process for this screen.
Linear: A linearly interpolated grid for straight corrections.
Curved: For smooth geometric corrections such as a curved screen.
Nurb: A second method for smooth geometric corrections.
The correction grid is modified by moving each control points. The control points can be moved
with the mouse or with the arrow keys for per pixel precision. Control points can be added with
the appropriate buttons on the toolbar and via the keyboard shortcuts (F1-F4). The reset
button resets the grid to its original state.
The magnetic border makes the screen border ‘sticky’, thus making it easier to correctly
position a control point to the border of the screen.
The following keyboard / mouse shortcuts are defined for the geometric grid dialog:
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TAB/TAB + SHIFT or +/-
Cycle Through Control Points
Double Click (Outside an Output)
Go To Overall Output
Double Click (Inside an Output)
Go To Selected Output
Scroll Wheel
Zoom View In/Out
Middle Mouse Button
Pan view
Soft Edge per Output
Use Symmetric Values: replicates soft edge parameters adjustments done on one side of
an output to the opposite side of the output next to it.
Width: defines the overlap length in pixels.
Curve: controls the shape of the blend curve (0% being linear).
Center Value: controls the luminance in the center of the blend region.
Gamma R, Gamma G and Gamma B: adjusts the blend curve separately for each color
component. The three values can be linked together using the link symbol on the right.
Test grid and pattern
MediaMaster provides several test patterns to help setting up soft-edge in various
situations, as well as a grid that reflects the geometrical correction as setup on the
corresponding output.
The two buttons at the top right of the output settings window will let you switch
from test patterns to test grid.
The custom soft edge lets you adapt the
soft edge parameters per edge of an
output.
You will find two controls at the top of the
"Custom Soft Edge" panel: the check-box
"Use Custom Soft Edge" and the button
"Set Default Values".
Use the checkbox to tell MediaMaster to
use the custom soft edge per output (if
checked) or the standard overall soft edge
(if not checked).
The "Set Default Values" button will copy
the curve and fade curve parameters from
the overall soft edge settings, plus the soft
edge setup, to the custom soft edge
settings so you can start from scratch.
Note that using the custom soft edge per
output will disable the master fixture's soft
edge.
In the Soft Edge tab, you can enable and
control soft-edge for each output, first
select the desired output from the
representation above the tab then adjust
any or all of the following options:
Video Mapper mode (MediaMaster Pro)
In Video Mapper mode, the configuration of the
displays is done in the external Video Mapper
application.
Clicking on the "Import…" button will let you
choose a Video Mapper file that you have
previously created in the Video Mapper
application.
Clicking on the "Edit" button open the selected
mapping file in the Video Mapper so you can
edit it.
Hide mouse cursor in fullscreen (Mac only)
With this box selected the mouse will not be visible in full screen mode. This can be useful
when you use the system entirely by external DMX or MIDI control but if you want to be able
to edit in the main software window during a live show then you should leave it unchecked.
Kling-Net
The Kling-Net panel allows you to activate the Kling-Net output module of the software.
Activate: When enabled, it triggers the Kling-Net output module of the software. When
activated, the video engine will be restarted and the Kling-Net broadcast will be started.
Clicking on the "Import…" button will let you choose a Kling-Net mapping file you have
previously created in the Kling-Net Mapper application. Clicking on the "Edit" button will launch
the Kling-Net Mapper application and open the selected mapping file so you can edit it.
LED Mapper
The LED Output panel allows you to activate the LED Mapper output module of the software.
Activate: When enabled, it triggers the LED Mapper output module of the software. When
activated, the video engine will be restarted and the LED Mapper broadcast will be started.
The only parameter is the mapping file to be used. By clicking on the "Open…" button a file
browser window will open so you can browse to a LED Mapper mapping file you have
previously created and saved in the LED Mapper application.
Engine Accuracy
There are three settings for the engine accuracy as shown below.
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Minimal is more suited for less powerful hardware.
Buffered is the default mode and ensures frame pre-buffering to achieve display
synchronization.
Frame Blending: activates the Frame Blending.
Note:
Frame Blending is a technique that allows the engine to interpolate between movie frames
whenever it needs to. It’s very useful when slowing down videos a lot, since instead of
producing a steppy frame display, the engine will continuously mix from one frame to the
other making the transition a lot smoother. It’s also useful when you display movies that
have a frame rate that is not ‘coherent’ with your output display.
For example, when using a 60hz display output, you should ideally use only 60/30 fps
movies to avoid desyncronisation between the movie frame and when the monitor can
display frames. MediaMaster won’t prevent you to play a 25 fps movie, but you might end
up with some jitter in the display. Activating Frame Blending will dramatically improve the
output quality of the movie in this scenario.
Timing Reference
In order to get the smoothest display possible, MediaMaster defaults to using the main display
output as timing reference. This ensures that frames are delivered in timely fashion,
synchronized to the display’s vertical blank.
However the timing of graphic cards is not always truly accurate: they might advertise 60Hz
while actually running slightly over/under that frequency. In most cases this is not really an
issue but if you need the movie playback to be perfectly in time (if you synchronize it with some
external audio for example, or use movies with audio) you need to be able to use the more
accurate time reference of the System clock instead. The selection of the time reference is
done through the Combo box under the engine accuracy:
Choose “Display” for a smoother image when exact timing isn’t mandatory or “System Clock”
when the video playback speed is critical.
Note:
Display Time Reference privileges video smoothness over audio / video synchronization.
For the audio and video to properly synchronize, it is very important that the timing
reference (in display preferences) is set to “System clock” as the inaccurate display
frequency reported by the system might cause the audio to drift.
DMX Tab
The DMX tab gives all the information regarding the interface of DMX with MediaMaster, it
allows patching layers and master fixtures on several DMX universes.
Note:
The DMX tab allows you to define the incoming DMX type – over Art-Net or USB – and the
universe that you want MediaMaster to respond to.
In Theater mode, the DMX channels that the software will respond to are defined in the
“Show Settings” tab (read the related section page 36) that can be accessed from the
“Show” button in the main software window.
DMX Interface
Select which interface you would like to use for communicating with your console. MediaMaster
supports Art-Net, MA-Net and ENTTEC device for DMX over USB. The later one will only be
displayed if it is properly detected by the system. If you have one and don’t see it listed, refer
to “Setting up DMX Control” at page 27.
If you use the Art-Net protocol, you have to select the subnet and universe you want
MediaMaster to be listening to.
The IP address of the computer is also shown for reference. If you need to change the IP
address to suit the range of your Art-Net installation, you have to do it from the Control Panel
in Windows or the System preferences in Mac OS.
"Universe Count" represents the universes range you want to use for MediaMaster.
For example: with Universe set to 0 and Universe Count set to 3, you can use universe 0 for
the first 8 Layer fixtures, universe 1 for the 4 remaining Layer fixtures and finally universe 2 for
the Master fixture.
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Patch (Fixture mode only)
To control MediaMaster through DMX, optionally a Master Fixture is patched to control all the
master parameters, and up to 36 Layer fixtures are patched to control each layers.
An option is provided to activate or not the patching of the Master Fixture. The type, the
universe and the start channel can also be set. The size of the fixture is displayed as
information.
Below, you can specify how many layers should be patched and the type of Layer fixture.
Automatically a grid adjust to show one raw to patch each individual layer.
A status line indicates if the patching is valid or the first error found in the patching.
Auto-Patch (Fixture mode only)
To make the patching process easier, an auto-patch tool is provided:
Start Universe and Channel specify starting from where fixtures can be patch.
Preserve Master Fixture address indicates that the Master Fixture location should be preserved
and Layer fixture patching won’t overlap with this reserved range of channels.
Preserve specified universes indicates that the auto-patching should respect the first column
specify in which universe each fixture should be located.
To illustrate how to setup the default MediaMaster 4.x patching please set:
- Master fixture as “Master Full 1.0”, Active, Universe 0 and Start Channel 450.
- Choose 12 layers “Layer Full 1.1”.
- Set the 8 first layers to Universe 0. Ignore the Start Channel.
- Set the last four layers to Universe 1. Ignore the Start Channel.
- Click on “Auto-Patch…” button.
- Set Start Universe to 0, Start Channel to 1, Preserve master fixture address and
- Click Auto-Patch button and then Apply.
Preserve specified universes.
MIDI Tab (Theater mode only)
The MIDI tab allows you to select which MIDI devices will be enabled for use with the
application.
Note:
All data from enabled MIDI devices are merged, so it doesn’t matter from which interface it
comes, a “Note On” message on channel 1 will have the same effect.
Audio Tab
The Audio tab allows you to configure
how audio is implemented in the
software when media clips with audio
are used.
The master output volume of
MediaMaster can be controlled from the
Master control panel on the main
software window.
The Audio-In Gain changes the
amplifying gain of your audio input. This
is important for instance to make sure
your timecode signal has a correct
amplitude or to adjust the input of audioreactive visual generators. An Audio-In
volume gauge in the Master control panel
lets you control the amplitude of the
Audio-In signal.
Driver Type
This where MediaMaster detects your system’s audio and let you select which sound card you
wish to use.
Input Device
MediaMaster will use the sound from the selected input device to feed audio-reactive Flash
animations or Pixel Generators. The default Input Device is usually the on-board microphone
of the system. When working in high volume environments you might want to configure it to a
line-in feed – for example the audio feed from a DJ or if you wish to be even more specific even
a single instrument such as a bass drum when working with live musicians.
You can set the audio input to No Audio to deactivate it.
Output Device
Select the audio output device where MediaMaster will send the sound from any clip you play
that has an audio track.
You can set the audio output to No Audio to deactivate it. You can also find a global volume
control for output on the master section of the main software window (see “Master output
controls” at page 32) and this can be set to zero also.
Buffer Size
Here you can define the size of the audio buffer in Kilobytes (K). The default setting is 1024k
(or 1 megabyte) but this can be reduced to 256k or increased to 2048k as required. Bigger
values will lead to more stable output but may cause latency with the video playback.
Hardware setup (Windows only)
This recalls the ASIO control panel for configuration under Windows OS.
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Performances Tab
The Performances tab shows various
settings allowing you to fine tune the
performance of the software with
respect to your hardware set-up.
The first field shows the GPU level of
the machine as assessed by the
MediaMaster software.. This is an
indication of the power of your graphic
card and ranges between 0 and 5. If
your level is anywhere below 3, you
might have some features and effects
that are disabled as the graphic card
doesn’t support all of the software’s
features.
Although MediaMaster will run on
machine with a GPU level of 0, we
strongly recommend the use of a
graphic card that provides at least a
rating of 3 on this scale.
Preview quality
This slider defines the quality of the master preview shown in the main software window.
Lowering the master preview quality will speed up the processing and may increase the quality
of the full screen output but will result in a pixelated preview.
If you set the preview quality to zero (all the way to the left) the master preview will be turned
off.
Preview style
This setting control the way layer previews are shown. Displaying layer preview involves quite
a bit of processing and the style of the preview used can influence greatly the average frame
rate of the software.
Media – Media preview only displays the current frame of the visual playing.
Full – Full preview displays both the visual and the effect applied on it.
Flash Frame Rate Factor
Generating Flash effects is a CPU intensive process. If you have a weak CPU then this setting
allows you to divide the frame rate of generating flash content by a preset factor.
If you set the rate factor to 2 the software will render one flash frame for every two frames of
output. This can lower CPU usage but at the cost of losing fluidity of the flash effect generated.
However in this scenario changing the rate factor may help to achieve a constant frame rate
on the software.
Activation Tab
The activation tab displays your license
information and a button to copy support
information to the clipboard. This support
information contains the version of
MediaMaster you are using, your Machine
ID code and how the software is activated.
The Machine ID is generated by the
software and can’t be changed; it is
displayed only for information purpose
(you will need this information to obtain
your serial number from the ArKaos PRO
web site or if you wish to contact ArKaos
PRO support about your license).
If you have activated your machine without
a license dongle the deactivate option will
be available.
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Application Menus
File
The “File” menu is only available on a PC. It lets you access to the Preferences dialog and Quit
the software. On a Mac, those menus are located in the “MediaMaster” menu.
Note:
To prevent any accidental exit, you can’t exit the software when running in full screen mode.
Edit
Resync to DMX
As we’ve seen earlier, even when you slave the server to the DMX console, you can
still use the user interface to modify parameters of layers or the master controls. If you
do so, the parameter will keep the modified value until this particular parameter is
modified from the DMX (i.e. the DMX channel value for that parameter changes). If you
wish all parameters to be re-synchronized automatically to the current DMX values,
select this entry.
Library Management
Brings the media library dialog as discussed in the ‘Media Management’ section earlier
in this document.
Text Management
Brings the text library dialog as discussed in the ‘Text Library’ section earlier in this
document.
Timecode Offsets
Opens a dialog to edit a set of predefined timecode offsets.
Output Management
Brings the Output dialog as discussed in the ‘Output Management’ section earlier in
this document.
Show Settings (Theater mode only)
Brings the Show Settings dialog as discussed in the ‘Show Settings’ section earlier in
this document.
VideoMapper
Opens the VideoMapper application.
LEDMapper
Opens the LEDMapper application.
Kling-Net Mapper
Opens the Kling-Net Mapper application.
MediaHUB
Opens the MediaHUB application.
Cue Player (Theater mode only)
Toggle the Cue Player panel visible or invisible.
Release Patch (Theater mode only)
Release All (Theater mode only)
Clear Patch (Theater mode only)
Clear Show (Theater mode only)
Display
Toggle Fullscreen
This turns on or off the full screen display output. If no external display is connected
then the full screen display will be shown on the primary display – replacing the main
software window.
Help
Documentation
Opens the PDF version of this document
Release Notes
Opens the Release Notes for the current software version
Manage License
Opens the software activation wizard
ArKaos Website
Opens your default Web browser on the ArKaos PRO Home page.
About
Opens the ‘About’ dialog
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Wide-screen & Multi-screen presentation
Introduction
For the most common of MediaMaster setups, a computer with two video outputs is generally
used: one output for the desktop monitor (to display the interface and control the software) and
another output which receives the result of the visual mix. That second output is generally
connected to a video projector, a large screen or a hardware video mixer.
Note:
It is important to not that for this set-up to be effective your computer must be able to drive
two independent graphics output and “mirroring” needs to be turned off in your display
preferences.
In this case, you will be using the single second output to send your final mix and, after having
defined the adapter to use and its resolution, you are ready to go.
MediaMaster, however, offers custom output resolution possibilities. This allows creating multiscreen or wide screen setups controlled through a single computer running MediaMaster. In
this chapter, we’ll investigate those specific setups.
Wide screen or multi-screen setups require to output in a high resolution and therefore a recent
/ powerful graphic card is necessary; a setup including 2 screens each in 1024x768 will require
MediaMaster to output in 2048x768, which will use a lot of CPU and GPU resources.
Definitions
Wide screen
A wide screen setup consists of one large visual mix spanning across several screens placed
next to the other.
This is achieved by generating a single MediaMaster projection in a large resolution, which
spans across several video adapters.
If you plan to use projectors as outputs devices, you can use the Soft-Edge option to seamless
edge blending between the two projectors.
Multi-screen
The multi-screen setup is the same concept as the wide screen in the sense that it drives
several adapters but in this case you end with different visual mixes displayed on each output.
The way it works is that you use the position capabilities of MediaMaster to assign layers to
part of the screen, which is divided across the various adapters.
Case studies
In order to explain the different steps to setup MediaMaster to produce a wide screen or multiscreen projection with several displays, let’s examine some common hardware configurations.
Case 1: Dual head graphic card
If you only have a dual head graphic card and would like to achieve multiple outputs, you will
need to use both adapters and, since you have no more monitor available left, you will lose the
display the interface. If you programmed your show in your DMX console and don’t need visual
feedback from the program, this is an option.
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Case 2: Dual head graphic card + single head graphic card
Adding a supplementary graphic card to the setup described above will allow you to use it with
your desktop monitor in order to display the MediaMaster interface and control the software
while you use the dual head graphic card and its two outputs for the wide screen or multiscreen.
Note:
At this stage, this option is only available on PC. The Mac version does not support
accessing more than one graphic adapter.
Case 3: Dual head graphic card + additional hardware
Using an external hardware such as the Matrox DualHead2Go, TripleHead2Go or Datapath x4
allows splitting one video output into two, three or four separate signals. (These adaptors are
small external devices, which are USB powered and have a single DVI or VGA input and 2 or
3 outputs on DVI or VGA)
This system allows computers with a dual head graphic card to use one of the graphic card
output for the software interface and its second output to send the visuals that will be split
across two or three different screens. This very affordable solution will also fit perfectly with
most modern laptops.
The Matrox Dual or Triple Cards do not provide additional graphics processing so the graphics
card in the system needs to be capable of dealing with the larger screen resolutions offered
with this solution.
Other possible combinations
Dual head graphic card with each output split in two with a DualHead2Go; you would have
a 4 screens setup.
Using the Matrox TripleHead2Go multi-display upgrade allows you to splitting a single
display adapter across 3 different screens. This can lead to up to 6 screens if you are
using a dedicated two-heads display adapter for the output (PC only).
Wide-screen or multi-screen projection – Setup
Earlier in this document, we’ve seen how to choose and setup a second monitor to display the
MediaMaster visual mix. To do wide screen or multi-screen, the principle is the same in the
sense that MediaMaster will continue to outputs one large visual mix, but the visual is going to
span across the multiple heads of an adapter.
The way to execute the span across adapters is very different for Mac and PC’s so we’ll
examine them separately.
Monitors setup under Windows
1. Right click on your desktop and select “Screen
resolution” in the contextual menu
A window will open with the following options:
Make sure that there are at least 2 screens displayed under “Change the appearance of your
display”. If not, click the “Detect” button. If you still don’t see 2 screens then windows doesn’t
detect the second monitor connected to your computer.
2. Now click on the drop down menu next to “Multiple displays”. Then select “Extend these
displays”. The second screen gets activated and now you can select the resolution for the
screen. For the best image quality and correct aspect-ratio, always select the native resolution
of the screen.
Note:
Windows 7 doesn’t allow to make an horizontal or vertical span like explained here. The
maximum number of screens that can be controlled at the same time in Windows 7 is: one
for the GUI and three for the output, through a Matrox TripleHead2Go.
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Monitors setup under Mac OS X
1. From the Apple menu, open the System Preferences and select “Displays”, once in the
Displays window, go to the tab “Arrangement”.
It is very important here to ensure that your monitors are represented in the same position as
they are positioned physically; you may need to drag the monitors around with your mouse to
place them correctly.
In this case, the primary monitor is placed to the left of the secondary monitor.
Note:
You will later need to specify manually the resolution corresponding to the sum of your two
monitors. So make sure you take note of it at this stage. For example, if you have two
monitors of resolution 1024x768 placed side by side, your total resolution will be 2048x768.
You can now close the System Preferences Displays window and launch MediaMaster.
2. In MediaMaster, go to the Preference Dialog and select the display tab. First, select as output
monitor the monitor that is positioned at the top left of the full display. Then select the custom
resolution setting and enter the resolution corresponding to the sum of the two monitors
(2048x768 in our example).
3. Start the full screen and the window will be created across the two monitors.
To have it correctly spanned across your two monitors it is important that they have been
positioned as they should at step 1 and that your MediaMaster resolution corresponds to the
addition of the resolution from each of your two monitors.
Soft-Edge
Introduction
To create a large screen by combining several video projectors it is important to be able to
seamlessly blend the edges between each projection. This can be achieved through the use
of the Soft-Edge option as it creates an overlapped area on the border of each screen with a
fade on the edge that can be overlapped with the next image.
Here is an original image (a nice view of Prague’s skyline):
And here’s an example of what would be displayed with a two beamers setup:
The areas to blend are represented with a gradient in the middle of the projection, positioning
the beamers so that these two areas are superposed will re-create the original picture without
any visible separation in the middle of the projection.
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Of course, it’s highly recommended to use two identical projectors.
Note:
When setting up soft-edge, you have to be absolutely sure that all gamma/exposure of the
graphic card & beamers are off. Otherwise you might have an imbalance between the two
outputs and not be able to connect the projectors.
Soft-Edge is available both in Instant mode in MediaMaster Express and Pro and also in
VideoMapper mode with MediaMaster Pro. In MediaMaster Pro an extra dialog offers more
advanced tweaking for the Soft-Edge than in MediaMaster Express. For users of MediaMaster
Pro we advise to progressively use the VideoMapper mode to benefit from the latest features.
Soft-Edge in Instant Mode
You enable the Soft-Edge by the number of projector used horizontally and vertically in the
“Display Tab” of the Preferences Window:
Once this has been setup, you can control the soft edging characteristics by changing the width
and curve of the soft edge on the main interface:
The curve factor defines the fade curve value allowing to fine-tune the luminosity of the
overlapping area compared to the rest of the picture.
MediaMaster Pro and Express both have an integrated pattern generator that will help you to
set up your screens. Since it is generated internally, it is pixel accurate no matter what
resolution you chose to use.
You need to recreate the following pattern for the soft-edge to be correctly configured:
The width of the overlapping area is defined between 2% and
50% of one screen size.
You can activate it by pressing the button next to the softedge width and curve settings
This test pattern replaces any output of visual presets from the software although these are
still running in the ArKaos PRO engine and will reappear when the test card is turned off.
The keystoning settings can also be used with this test card.
If you click again on this button, you will see that there are multiple test patterns
appearing. You can choose the one that fits best for your setup.
Calibration
Below are the common steps to setup and calibrate a wide screen with Soft-Edge in
MediaMaster in Instant Mode (provided that you have correctly setup your system and your
graphics card driver parameters, as explained earlier in this document).
Launch MediaMaster in Instant Mode
Setup the number of horizontal and vertical screens, and the soft-edge settings in the
“Display tab” of the Preferences Window
Import a picture appropriate for calibration and activate it
Launch the full screen mode CTRL+F / Cmd +F in MediaMaster)
(At this point, you should have the picture displayed on the two beamers with the softedge effect)
Place the beamers correctly so that the edges that blend the seamless area are
superposed
Adjust the Curve parameter to obtain the desired luminosity on the overlapping area
Soft-Edge in VideoMapper Mode
When using MediaMaster Pro in VideoMapper Mode, Soft-Edge can be setup between multiple
displays and multiple spans directly from within the VideoMapper with all the extra strength
offered by the mapper.
When you select a display or a group of display, you can enable Soft-Edge in the tab
Correction, as well as Per Display color corrections. In the settings tab you can also turn-on
the display of a pattern to help for the precise setup.
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Calibration
Below are the common steps to setup and calibrate a wide screen with Soft-Edge in
MediaMaster with the Video Mapper.
Launch MediaMaster in VideoMapper Mode and run the VideoMapper.
Select the display or select a group of displays and setup the resolution and the number of
spans.
Activate the Pattern “Geometric Correction” for the setup.
Launch the full screen mode CTRL+F / Cmd +F of the VideoMapper.
Place the beamers correctly so that the edges that blend the seamless area are
superposed.
Turn on Geometric Correction feature and do corrections if needed.
Eventually calibrate each display with the Per Display color corrections.
Turn on Soft-Edge feature and set the overlap width for each edge requiring Soft-Edge.
Adjust the Curve for each edge to make for a smooth transition if needed.
Adjust the Center Value to obtain the desired luminosity on the overlapping area.
VideoMapper
Concept
The ArKaos VideoMapper is an extension for MediaMaster Pro that allows easy mapping of
video onto irregularly shaped surfaces and through multiple outputs. Designed to let you setup
mapping projects in a very short time, it makes it incredibly simple to flow visuals around
complex objects with just a few clicks.
Once you launch the extension, MediaMaster Pro will send the output from each layer to virtual
“surfaces” that can be scaled, deformed, and assigned to any physical output. One output can
display a full screen visual or a composition of several mapped visuals; output to a video
projector and you can map the surfaces to any physical volume (like objects or buildings).
Hardware setup
ArKaos PRO VideoMapper is designed to output video content on any display connected to
the computer’s graphical cards.
It is advised to connect all the displays to the computer before turning it on.
The VideoMapper application will detect the connected displays and let you configure their
resolution and refresh frequency individually.
Mapping workflow overview
The VideoMapper application is designed to communicate with MediaMaster. The
VideoMapper and MediaMaster can run at the same time on the same computer, so that you
can edit the mapping directly with the video content running in MediaMaster.
The VideoMapper application is only needed for the edition the video mapping itself, and can
be closed once the mapping setup is finished. The mapping will be automatically imported in
MediaMaster.
The typical workflow is:
1. Connect the displays to the graphics card then turn the computer on.
2. Launch MediaMaster application and switch to the “Video Mapper mode” in the Output
preferences. The application will restart in order to apply the new mode.
3. Launch VideoMapper application. You can also launch it using the “Edit” button in
MediaMaster’s Output preferences.
4. Create a mapping and test it directly with your video content while playing in MediaMaster
or by using a test image.
5. Once the mapping is finished, simply close the Video Mapper application and
MediaMaster will take over the full screen displays.
Important:
The video rendering of MediaMaster occurs on one graphical card. If you would create
surfaces on a display that’s on another graphics card, be aware that you may experience
reduced performances due to memory transfers between the different graphics cards going
through the main memory.
If possible, it’s advised to use the same graphics card to drive all the displays, eventually
using a video splitter device. If you absolutely need to use several graphics cards, then you
should connect the displays with the biggest resolution to the main graphics card.
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VideoMapper application
The VideoMapper application allows you to manage your displays and create/edit surfaces that
will be used by MediaMaster to display its layers in VideoMapper Mode.
Interface overview
Toolbar
The toolbar on top of the window contains various controls to adjust the user interface, editing
options and the information displayed in the output.
Mapping Setup
The left side of the application shows the Mapping setup, with a graphical representation of the
connected displays and the Display browser. Each display in the browser will list its surfaces,
which can be added, deleted or copied directly in the browser.
Sources
The Sources tab contains the visual sources that are used by the VideoMapper, it can be a still
image or the feed from MediaMaster Pro running in “VideoMapper Mode”.
Surface Editor
The “surface editor”, in the central panel, shows the surfaces of the selected displays. It is a
preview of the result you will obtain on the related display in full screen. The “Show crop panel”
button from the toolbar splits the surface editor horizontally to show the crop panel on top with
the output panel below.
Inspectors
The right panel is an inspector that shows parameters of the selected surface (tab “Surface”),
the selected display (tab “Display”) or the selected group of display (tab “Group”).
Show / hide left panel: shows or hide the left panel with the display browser
so you can have more room to edit your surfaces.
Show / hide crop panel: this will split the surface editor horizontally to show
the crop panel on top with the output panel below.
Link grid points: links points between the grind on the crop zone and the grid
on the output zone so that moving a point on one will make the corresponding
point move on the other also.
Snap surfaces: surface borders will snap with each other and with the
borders of the surface editor
Enable / disable full screen: goes full screen on the active outputs.
Show cursor on full screen: shows the cursor position on the full screen
displays
Surface selection flash: the active display will flash each time you select a
surface
Surface info on full screen: shows the surface edition objects (surface
borders, handles, center and name) on the full screen display.
Toolbar options
Setting up displays
Each connected display (as detected by your operating
system) is listed in the display browser. Disconnected
displays are shown in red. Below each display item
appears the list of surfaces (click on the arrow on the
left to expand the display item).
Each display can be enabled or disabled by clicking on
the left check box. Disabled displays won’t go full
screen when the global full screen button is activated
(the display showing the VideoMapper interface is
Note:
The first letter of identification before the display name (A1, A2, B1, etc.) represents the
GPU to which the display is connected. Two displays named A1 and A2 means that they
are connected to the same graphics card.
disabled by default).
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Grouping
Draft Displays
You can create a “draft display” by clicking the “add draft display” button above
the display browser on the right. Draft displays can be used when the display
you want to use in your final setup is not connected. Create your mapping on a
draft display and, later, copy/paste the surfaces to the final display. The draft
display can be deleted once the job is done (right-click on the draft display item
and choose “delete”).
Going Full Screen
To go full screen, press CTRL+F (Command+F on Mac) or click on the full screen
button in the toolbar. The VideoMapper keeps the full screen state in memory.
So, when you start the Video Mapper, the full screen will automatically be enabled
if it was enabled the last time you closed the application.
Background Image
The background of the display can be set to black, grey, or bitmap image (you can choose the
image file by clicking on the “open button”).
Custom Canvas Size
By default, rendering is done on a canvas of the resolution of the display. From that canvas,
an area is cropped and mapped on each surface. In some situations, magnifying a small
cropped area requires higher resolution or a lower resolution might be enough if a surface
covers a smaller part of the output area. The option “Custom Canvas Size” gives you explicit
control over the canvas size used for the intermediate rendering.
Pattern
This option lets you display a pattern over the displays or the spans to help with the setup or
the corrections. The “Pattern Type” is used to select what type of pattern should be displayed:
some are designed to setup geometric correction, to setup displays or to tweak color correction.
The “Grid Density” defines how many sub-divisions should be used when generating
procedural patterns.
Displays can be grouped together to form one big display, by
dragging and dropping one display on another display.
There are two ways to ungroup displays: either select a display
and click the eject button on the right side or select the group,
right click and select ungroup.
Editing Display Properties
When you click on a display item in the display editor, or when
you click on the display tab in the inspector to the right, the
properties related to the display are shown. You can choose the
resolution of the display and its frequency.
The “Force Resolution” option will change the resolution of the
display to match the resolution in the “Resolution” combo box. If
the option is not set, a “Custom Resolution” can be specified
and the output will be displayed only on the partial top-left
display to cover the specified resolution.
The option “Display Span” allows to virtually split the display as
a matrix of X columns and Y rows.
The option “Animate Pattern” scrolls the pattern over the display area to bring out some
geometrical deformation issues in some area of the display.
The left pattern “Geometric Correction” is mainly for geometric correction and soft-edge. The
right pattern “Color Correction” is more for per display color adjustments and to tweak colors
and curves for soft-edge.
Display corrections
Geometric Correction
To add or remove control points, use the following buttons:
Add control points that will divide the grid horizontally
Add control points that will divide the grid vertically
Remove control points that will divide the grid horizontally
Remove control points that will divide the grid vertically
Add a control point by clicking anywhere in the grid
Reset the grid; remove all the control points.
The buttons “All Linear” or “All Curved” transform all segments to linear or curved. But each
segment can also be set explicitly to linear or curved by selecting a control point and using the
interpolation editor below:
Geometric correction lets you remap the whole
output of a display or a span, including all surfaces,
by editing a grid and each of its contol point. This
allows to compensate some pan, tilt or any
deformation due to some projection on arbitrary
surfaces.
To use Geometric Correction, first toggle the
feature on with the top-right switch.
Each segment can either be set to Linear or Curved.
The coordinates of each control point can be
specified explicitely.
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The position of the selected corner box or the selected control point can be moved with the
arrow keys of the keyboard. By pressing Alt key modifier the movement is amplified by a
factor of 10x. By pressing Ctrl or Cmd more precise adjustments can be done by a factor of
1/10th. Tab key can be used to select the next control point and Shift + Tab to select the
previous control point.
Soft-Edge
The “Curve” defines how the blending is performed along the overlap area. A value of 1.0 is
linear. A higher value gives a smooth ease-in and ease-out on the left and right sides of the
overlap area.
A “Center Value” above 0.5 makes for a lighter middle band in the overlap area. A value
below 0.5 makes for a darker middle band.
Soft-Edge is always applied on a matrix of displays or spans. A different behavior is applied
on any outer edge on the boundary of the matrix compared to inner edge between two
adjacent displays. For inner-edges, soft-edge is active by default. For outer-edges the softedge is disabled by default by having a width of zero. For special setups with multiple media
servers or 360° projections, the width can be explicitly set to activate the soft-edge on the
outer edge.
Per Display Corrections
It represents the control point with its four adjacent
segments. Each segment can be set to linear or curve. The
middle round control will toggle the four adjacent segments
between linear and curved.
The Soft-Edge defines a band over which the projection of two
beamers will overlap to create a larger continuous output without
any visible discontinuity. It can be performed between two displays
or two spans. To use Soft-Edge, use the top-right switch to toggle
the feature on.
The top representation lets you select the upper, lower, left or right
border of the current display or current span.
The “Width” parameters sets the width in pixel of the overlapping
area.
The brightness, contrast and gamma can be adjusted per
display. If the option “Link Gammas” is not set, then the red,
green and blue component of the gamma can be tweaked
separately. Displaying the “Color Correction” pattern is helpful
to adjust the colors.
To use Display Corrections, first toggle the feature on with the
top-right switch.
Setting up surfaces
Creating a surface
To create a new surface, click on the rectangle or triangle that appears on the right
when the display item is selected.
The list of surfaces on a display is like a stack of layers. The first surface will be displayed on
top of the others. You can change the ordering of the surfaces by dragging them around in the
list.
Editing Surface Properties
When you select a surface, its properties are displayed in the inspector on the right.
The X and Y parameters are the coordinates of the surface. This position is by default the
top-left corner for rectangles and the center for triangles. If the option “Display Top Left
Coordinates” is unchecked in the view menu, the position of the rectangles will be centered.
The R parameter is the rotation of the surface. The rotation can also be modified by dragging
the rotation handle in the graphical editor.
The other parameters depend on which surface you are editing.
For Triangles you can edit the position of the three corners of the triangle (parameter X-Y
in the inspector).
For Rectangles you can modify the width and the height of the rectangle (parameter W-H
in the inspector).
Add control points that will divide the grid horizontally
Add control points that will divide the grid vertically
Remove control points that will divide the grid horizontally
Remove control points that will divide the grid vertically
Add a control point by clicking anywhere in the grid
Reset the grid; remove all the control points.
The position of the selected corner box or the selected control point can be edited with the
arrow keys of the keyboard.
To move the point of 20 pixels, press Alt while moving the point.
To move the point of 0.05 pixels, press Ctrl (Cmd on mac) while moving the point.
You can modify geometrical parameters by editing the
surface directly in the graphical editor (for example modify
the width or the height of a rectangle by dragging the middle
handles of the rectangle) or enter numerical values in the
inspector.
The rectangle can also be deformed using a grid pattern. To
enable the grid, check the option “Edit Grid” in the inspector
When the grid is enabled each control point of the grid can
be dragged separately. To add or remove control points, use
the buttons just below the edit grid option.
The interpolation between the control points can be linear or
curved. To set the interpolation for all the control points of
the grid, use the interpolation combo box.
To set the interpolation separately for each control point,
select a control point in the graphical editor, then the
interpolation editor appears.
It represents the control point with its four adjacent
segments. Each segment can be set to linear or curve.
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Copy from output: copies to the crop panel the shape of the
surface that is currently selected in the output panel
Masks
The following options are available to modify the mask:
Invert: invert the grayscale source image before applying the mask
Black: the masked part of the image is black
Trans: the masked part of the image is transparent.
Cropping
For each surface the visual source can be cropped. To show the cropping panel,
click on the “Show Crop Panel” button in the toolbar.
The surface editor will split horizontally to show the crop panel on the top with the output panel
below.
Any image file can be used as mask that can be applied
on the surfaces. The average of the RGB colors will be
used if the source is a color image.
Click on the “Open” button to load an image. Make sure
that the “Enable” button is checked.
You can then edit the cropped zone the same way you edit the surfaces in the surface editor.
The four corners of rectangle cropping zones can be moved separately if you check the option
“Edit Grid”.
Copy from sampling: copies to the output panel the shape of the
surface that is currently selected in the crop panel
The Show All button allows seeing the cropping zones
corresponding to all the surfaces of the display. This option is useful
if you want “cut” a visual into several surfaces.
The Copy from sampling/output feature is very handy when you have to deal with complex
shapes made of several surfaces, it will help to keep a final image that won’t get distorted.
Visual Sources
The visual sources of the VideoMapper can be found under the “Sources” tab in the left pane,
next to the Mapping setup.
Visual sources can be an image or the feed from MediaMaster Pro running in “VideoMapper
Mode”. If MediaMaster Pro is running, the source will automatically switch to MediaMaster.
To add an image to the list of sources, click on the “Load Image” button above the list. Double
click on an item of the list to select that source.
Export and Import of Mapping Files
The VideoMapper constantly saves the mapping file internally. You can export your mapping
using the “Export” option in the “File” menu. The exported file (.vmp file) contains the
configuration of the output groups of MediaMaster as well. You can import external mappings
using the “Import” option in the “File” menu.
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Key Bindings
Sampling Editor Shortcut Keys
Middle Mouse Button : Pan View
Scroll Wheel : Zoom View In/Out
Shift + Left Mouse Click : Multi selection
Shift + Surface Rescale : Aspect-ratio Rescale
Arrow Keys : Move Selected Surface by 1 pixel
Alt + Arrow Keys : Move Selected Surface by 10 pixels
Ctrl (Cmd on Mac) + Arrow Keys : Move Selected Surface by 0.1 pixel
Ctrl (Cmd on Mac) + i : Hide All Surfaces Except The Selected One
Ctrl (Cmd on Mac) + shift + i : Show All Surfaces
Grid Surface Shortcut Keys
R : Reset Grid
F1 : Adds Horizontal Control Points
F2 : Removes Horizontal Control Points
F3 : Adds Vertical Control Points
F4 : Removes Vertical Control Points
F5 : Adds a Control Point Anywhere
F6 : Changes Grid Interpolation Type
F7 : Toggles Control Point Interpolation Type
TAB + Arrow Keys : Change Control Point Selection
Right Click Inside Grid: Selection Box Around Control Points
Application Shortcut Keys
Ctrl (Cmd on Mac) + I : Move The Video Mapper Window To Cursor Position
Ctrl (Cmd on Mac) + G : Surface Snap
Ctrl (Cmd on Mac) + E : Show crop panel
Ctrl (Cmd on Mac) + F : Go full screen
Ctrl (Cmd on Mac) + N : New Mapping
Ctrl (Cmd on Mac) + O : Import a Mapping File
Ctrl (Cmd on Mac) + Shift + S : Export a Mapping File
Ctrl (Cmd on Mac) + P : Open Preference Dialog
Ctrl (Cmd on Mac) + Q : Quit The Application
Output management in MediaMaster Pro
DMX (Fixture mode only)
The output management dialog is used
both for output group management and to
reassign an output to a different DMX
value.
The dialog can be called by pressing
CTRL+O (Windows) / Cmd+O (Mac).
Groups
This dialog gives you the possibility to
create groups of outputs so you can
display a layer on several outputs at once.
You can select and edit an existing group,
rename it, duplicate it and finally create a
new group from scratch.
MediaMaster assigns the Video Mapper
Surfaces, Full screen Display and Output
Groups to a specific DMX value depending
on the following ranges and on what's
already assigned in the list:
“All” outputs is assigned to 0
Video Mapper Surfaces and Full
screen Display (Instant mode) outputs are
assigned between 1 and 199
Output Groups are assigned
between 200 and 249
LED Mapper output is assigned to
250
Kling-Net output is assigned to 251
Values between 252 and 255 are
reserved for further versions
You can reassign an output by selecting it
at the new target DMX value, within its
respective range.
If there's already an output assigned at this
DMX value, it will be swapped with the
newly assigned one.
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