MacroSystem Akaba – New Concept User Manual

User manual

Akaba – New Concept

for Casablanca Avio, Prestige and Kron

Safety notices

To avoid making mistakes during operation, we recommend that you carefully follow the instructions provided in this manual. We would also like to point out that Akaba – New Concept has been designed with the hobby enthusiast in mind. We have taken a great deal of care while programming and checking this software. Nevertheless, since it is not possible to guarantee totally error-free software applications in all environments and at any time, we unfortunately cannot rule out the possibility that some errors may have crept in. If, contrary to all expectations, this is indeed the case, we shall remedy any errors in the program and supply the affected customers with the new software free of charge. We cannot, however, accept any liability for loss of data/time or any consequential damages that may occur as a result, particularly since we have no inuence over correct software installation and operation by the customer. MacroSystem Digital Video AG and its dealers therefore cannot be held liable for any defects or unintentional damage in connection with the installation or use of Akaba – New Concept. MacroSystem Digital Video AG and its dealers do not guarantee error-free use of the software or complete awlessness of the program. Any implied guarantee is null and void, including guarantee of suitability of the software or operating instructions for a particular purpose. Neither MacroSystem Digital Video AG nor its dealers are responsible for any damages resulting either directly or indirectly through the use of the software or the operating instructions, e.g. for prot loss, costs, hardware or software problems or other issues.

Contents

Page

1. General............................................................................................................... 5

1.1 General................................................................................................... 5

1.2 What is Akaba – New Concept? ........................................................... 5

2. Installation and Starting the Program ............................................................. 7

3. Operation ........................................................................................................... 9

3.1 Operation controls ................................................................................ 9

3.1.1 General buttons ........................................................................ 9

3.1.2 Palette, pencils & brushes........................................................ 9

3.1.3 Tools........................................................................................... 10

3.1.4 Editing functions....................................................................... 11

3.1.5 General ...................................................................................... 14

3.2 Margin areas.......................................................................................... 15

3.3 Display ................................................................................................... 15

3.4 Notes on the Power Key Option .......................................................... 15

3.5 Individual buttons / functions .............................................................. 15

3.5.1 Palette ........................................................................................ 15

3.5.2 Pencils & brushes ..................................................................... 16

3.5.3 Fill options................................................................................. 17

3.5.4 Mask........................................................................................... 18

4. The Three Operating Modes ............................................................................ 19

4.1 Draw mode ............................................................................................ 19

4.2 Retouch .................................................................................................. 19

4.3 Gamma .................................................................................................. 20

5. Application Examples ....................................................................................... 21

5.1 Setting sun............................................................................................. 21

5.2 Retouching a distorted image ............................................................. 23

5.3 Partial brightness correction................................................................ 25

5.4 Title with transparency gradient.......................................................... 27

5.5 Cutting out a brush............................................................................... 29

1. General

1.1 General

Thank you for buying Akaba – New Concept!

We thank you for your trust and hope that this

product will meet your expectations.

Akaba – New Concept will let you get more use

out of your Casablanca than ever before.

We are at your disposal for any questions or

suggestions you may have.

You will nd addresses and telephone numbers

in the Casablanca manual.

undesired elements. You will nd special copy

stamps in addition to the normal drawing tools.

Gamma lets you correct brightness, contrast,

saturation, RGB, etc. - and not just for the entire

frame, but also separately for self-dened areas,

even with variable intensity.

For example, say the image in the lower area is

too dark, but the sky is appropriately exposed.

Normally the video would be unusable, but

correcting it is no problem for the mask function

of Akaba – New Concept (see application

example 5.3 Partial brightness correction.).

Akaba – New Concept saves all settings, pencils

and brushes for each of the three operating

modes.

Please have your device’s serial number or your

customer number ready when contacting us.

1.2 What is Akaba – New Concept?

Akaba – New Concept is a completely new

program for manually editing single frames or

video scenes. You can retouch, modify or extend

your own individual frames in many ways.

Three different operating modes give Akaba a

wide range of possiblities that are easy to use

and implement.

Draw mode (drawing and animation mode)

features all the usual possibilities for drawing.

Lines, circles, polygons and surfaces can

be drawn with widely varying pencils and

attributes. You can create graphic images or

extravagant titles. The drawing you create can

be moved during the course of the scene, (as is

done in the program PIP Studio).

Retouch lets you select and manually edit each

individual scene frame. The supplied tools let

you easily conceal small dropouts or other

2. Installation and Starting the Program

In order to install Akaba – New Concept you will

need the SMART EDIT system software (at least

version 2.3).

The system version is displayed in the

information eld of the System Settings menu

(lower left).

Leave your Casablanca turned on and select

the Install Product button in System Settings.

After the corresponding window has appeared,

insert the installation SmartMedia card into the

Casablanca SmartMedia reader so that the gold

contacts are facing down and the folded corner

is pointing forward to the left (in the direction of

the Casablanca).

function representations and descriptions in

this manual may differ slightly from the actual

software.

After you have installed Akaba – New Concept,

you will see it listed alphabetically in the Edit

menu under Special. After selecting Akaba

– New Concept you will see the three possible

operation modes displayed to the right (effect

options):

After you have inserted the card, you will see the

software Akaba – New Concept displayed in the

window. Select it in the list and click on Activate.

A number block is displayed for entering the

enable code you have obtained from your

dealer. After that, a message is displayed

indicating that installation is nished. You can

then remove the SmartMedia card.

If you want to install the program as a demo

version, click Activate, and then click Cancel

in the number code window. The word demo

now appears after the program name. Click on

OK to close the window and then remove the

SmartMedia card. Akaba – New Concept is now

installed as a demo version.

Notes on other products:

Akaba – New Concept supports the Power

Key option. Separate instructions for keyboard

control of this program are not available - press

the F2 key to see the possible key abbreviations.

Read also section 3.4 Notes on the Power Key

option.

You initiate a mode by clicking on the

corresponding button.

Akaba – New Concept always operates on the

activated scene in the scene bin. As long as the

same scene is always active when the program

starts, Akaba – New Concept automatically

saves all modications so that you can always

continue your interrupted work.

If you select a scene other than the scene that

was active during your previous session with

Akaba – New Concept, then the system warns

you that if you continue, all changes made to the

previous scene will be lost. With Cancel you can

prevent this and then select the previous scene.

Within a scene you can switch among the three

modes Draw mode, Retouch and Gamma.

Akaba – New Concept saves all three modes

independently of each other. The most recently

used mode is always used for calculation.

Modes are never superimposed!

Note: Because of possible software modication

after this manual has gone to print, some of the

The operation panel is displayed after you have

started the program and selected an operation

mode. You will then see the rst frame of your

video scene in the background.

3. Operation

This chapter rst discusses the functions

generally available in all three operating

modes. The individual buttons are described in

sequence, and then the differences of the three

operating modes are explained.

3.1 Operation controls

The operation panel of the main menu is divided

into ve subpanels, each of which contains

several buttons and functions.

3.1.1 General buttons

3.1.2 Palette, pencils and brushes

1.) Palette

Clicking on this button activates the Palette

window. Akaba – New Concept lets you use

an extended palette allowing a choice of color,

pattern and color gradient. The selected color

and pattern are then displayed within the palette

button. Further details are explained in section

3.5.1 Palette.

2.) Pencils and brushes

Clicking on this button activates the Pencils and

Brushes window. Various predened pencils can

be used (and changed). The currently selected

drawing pencil is displayed in the button.

Brushes you cut out yourself cannot be used for

drawing.

You can nd more information in section 3.5.2

Pencils and brushes.

1.) The Info button opens a window displaying

data on the program version.

2.) This button minimizes the menu panel, as

you already know from Casablanca.

3.) This button is used to move the panel to the

opposite screen edge.

3.) Undo

Clicking on this button causes the previous

drawing operation to be discarded. It is usually

possible to undo several operations, but the

specic number of undoable operations cannot

be known ahead of time because it it determined

by the surface size of previously made changes.

4.) Eyedropper

An eyedropper is used to select a color present

in the frame that can then be used for further

drawing operations. Position the eyedropper

at the desired spot in the video frame and

press the left trackball key. You will see that

the selected color is then displayed in the most

recently active color eld of the palette.

Assuming you have not previously set the

option Solid in the Palette window, the color is

nevertheless used and appears in the Palette

button.

5.) Mask mode

This button is used to switch to mask mode.

You can read more about this powerful tool in

section 3.5.4.

6.) Activate mask

Here you choose whether the current mask

should be used when drawing. If the checkmark

is visible, then the mask is used. If a dash is

visible then it is not used. We recommended

that you use the mask mode after you have

become acquainted with Akaba – New Concept.

3.1.3 Tools

Optically vertical, horizontal or diagonal lines

(45°) are indicated during drawing by a change

in the trackball cursor (dash next to the symbol).

2.) Polygon (unlled, lled)

Either a lled or unlled closed polygon can

be drawn. Do the same as when drawing a

line; with the rst click you set the start point

and with every additional click you add a line

segment.

To close the polygon and terminate the drawing

operation move the trackball cursor over the

start point. The start point is indicated by a

change in the cursor and you can click to nish

the polygon.

Depending on the pencil, the corner points

may show minor discrepancies during drawing

but will appear correctly after the polygon is

nished.

If you are drawing the polygon with a color

gradient and a selected color, then the polygon

is shown as a single color until it is closed, at

which time the color changes again.

1.) Line

Clicking on this button causes the menu panel

to disappear, allowing you to draw a line in the

video material. A diagonal line segment (45°) is

displayed so that you can precisely position the

line.

The cursor is positioned to the upper-left end

and the point can now be positioned. A click on

the left trackball key sets the start point of the

line.

Now the cursor changes to the other end of the

line and you can set the end point of the line

with a second click.

Clicking on the left trackball key without having

moved the trackball itself causes a diagonal line

(45°) to be set.

In order to freely draw the line simply change

the position of the trackball before you conrm

the end point by clicking on the left key.

During the entire time, the line is displayed as it

will appear using the current pencil and color.

The next line can be drawn immediately after

setting the end point. Clicking on the right

trackball key returns you to the operating panel.

3.) Fill

A certain region of the frame is lled with a color

(like from a paint bucket). This is a complicated

operation that requires you to make several

settings under Fill options in order to obtain the

desired result. More on this in section 3.5.3 Fill

options.

The ll operation is started by clicking within the

desired region. The object is lled with the color

dened in the active “color eld” according to

the ll options you have set.

4.) Freehand

Clicking on this symbol starts the drawing mode.

Move the trackball cursor to the desired start

position and click on the left trackball key.

Do not hold down the trackball key!

Move the trackball to draw under the cursor.

A second click with the left key terminates the

operation.

Large pencils and fast movement might result

in drawing individual points and not continuous

lines.

So don’t move the drawing pencil with the

trackball too quickly!

5.) Rectangle (unlled, lled)

Drawing is done as with Line. A lled or unlled

rectangle can be drawn by selecting rst the

upper-left and then the lower-right corner. The

cursor changes if the rectangle is optically a

square.

6.) Eraser

By clicking on this button you can delete your

drawings in the video frame. The currently

selected pencil is used. The video background is

not affected.

Operation is the same as described for the

Freehand tool.

The thickness of the eraser depends on the

current alpha value for the pencil color. An

alpha value of 100% causes everything under

the eraser to be removed. Smaller alpha values

result in only a partial erasure.

7.) Text

Clicking on this well-known symbol calls up

the Casablanca text-entry menu. The text

created with the titler is inserted into the Akaba

– New Concept drawing with all panels and

backgrounds. Only one page is supported.

Effects are not supported.

After the text has been inserted into Akaba –

New Concept, it is a normal part of the drawing.

If the titler is activated again, it contains the

most recently entered text, which can be

deleted or modied, but does not change the

text already inserted into Akaba. Modication

is possible only if you delete the text with Undo

immediately after inserting the text, and then

activate the titler again.

8.) Ellipsis

The ellipsis is created in the same way as a

rectangle, but the center point is specied rst,

then the width and height of the ellipsis. If

you have optically drawn a circle, then this is

indicated by the cursor.

Note: If you draw a line, rectangle, or an ellipsis,

the cursor changes form to indicate when any of

the following special cases occur:

• horizontal, vertical or diagonal line (45°)

• a square

• a circle.

But this is different according to screen format

(4:3, 16:9, PAL/NTSC). The program uses the TV

standard. But depending on the setting, there

may be deviations from one TV to another. For

example, a rectangle with equal sides of 100 *

100 pixels is not a square.

3.1.4 Editing functions

1.) Edit

The most recent draw operation can be edited

after having been made. You can roughly draw

an object (line, rectangle, etc ...) and then edit

it in this submenu. You can move the object,

deform it, and/or change the pencil and color.

The Edit button is active if an object has been

drawn, but only if the object is not a freehand

object.

If you click the button after having drawn a

lled or unlled polygon, then you will see

two buttons and a slider bar serving to move

the polygon. By clicking on the Move Polygon

button, you can move the entire polygon

anywhere on the screen and set the nal

position with the left trackball key. The Move

Point button allows you to move just one point

of the polygon on the screen. You can achieve

this also directly in the drawing by moving

the cursor over one of the points. The cursor

changes its form when it is moved over the a

point. The slider bar jumps to the position of the

actual point. Now you only have to press the

Move Point button or click where the cursor has

changed form.

If you have just used another tool to draw an

object and you then click on Edit, you will see

a representation of your drawing tool in the

operating panel (line, circle, rectangle).

In this representation the active points of your

object are marked and you can click on them to

move them in the drawing. To move individual

points or the entire object you can either use

these buttons or click the corresponding point

directly in the drawing.

In the second case the trackball pointer displays

the possible functions.

Note: Some tool functions cannot be edited,

such as Freehand, Fill and Erase.

While a point or all points of a polygon are being

moved, the display will not be exactly correct,

especially if thick, blurred lines are involved. But

after the operation is nished, the display will

once again be correct.

2.) Special

This menu item offers some rarely required

functions and settings.

In the Effect window you rst see the buttons IN

and OUT. The button you click is activated and

is displayed in blue. An active IN button means

that all further settings relate to fading-in the

drawing. An active OUT button means the that

following settings refer to the fade-out.

Under Effect you have the possibility of

choosing fade-in or fade-out from twelve

different effects.

- Clear image

All drawing operations performed are deleted.

In retouch mode this affects only the current

drawing!

- Set image

The entire screen is lled with the currently

selected color. Any drawing operations already

made are lost.

- Fill options

An additional window is called up in which

you have diverse options for the automatic ll

function (see section 3.5.3 Fill options).

- Grid

You can choose the size of the grid for the

drawing functions (see section 3.1.5 General,

Grid).

3.) Effect

Akaba – New Concept encloses the drawing

with an (invisible) frame. This region, i.e.

everything that was drawn, can be faded and

animated with the functions from the program

PIP Studio.

The rst eleven settings work as the name

implies - the setting Custom means that you can

set your own values. If you have chosen another

fade and are doing effect editing, then the

setting is automatically set to Custom.

The button Fade time uses a slider bar to let you

specify the duration of the fade-in or fade-out.

The highest value you can set is the length of

the entire video scene.

For example, if your scene is six seconds long,

then you can choose two seconds for fade-in

and two seconds for fade-out. The remaining

two seconds are calculated as full display time,

i.e. the time the drawing appears in the scene

without a fade effect. After the full display time

elapses the drawing is faded out.

If you set path points during editing (see below),

then the picture position is affected during the

full display time. The last path point of the fade-

in is also the rst path point of the fade-out, and

determines the position of the picture during the

full display time.

The Edit effect button opens a new operating

panel. In this menu you can insert path points

that determine the movement of the drawing.

An additional path point is positioned when you

click on Insert. The newly inserted path point

is the active path point, displayed in green.

Inactive points are yellow. The new point is

always inserted in back of the currently active

path point. If the active path point is not the

last one, then it is inserted exactly between the

current and the next path point on the curve (of

course, two path points dene a line segment,

not a curve).

Note: A path-point segment consists of two to

ten path points together, whereby the path point

for the full display time is always displayed as

a large octagon. The drawing moves at steady

velocity from the rst to the last path point of

the curve. If two path points are near to each

other, then the drawing is on the corresponding

curve segment for a shorter time then when the

two points are further apart from each other.

(You should remember this note when you want

to change certain values of the drawing between

path points.)

If two path points exist and one path point lies

exactly on top of the other, then the drawing

does not move. But parameters of the drawing

can still be modied and take effect for the entire

fade time. For example, a fade can be created

at that point. If there are more that two path

points, and one point lies exactly on top of its

neighboring path point, then the rst point has

no duration and is skipped.

Clicking on the Delete button removes the

currently active path point so that the previous

path point becomes the currently active path

point.

Clicking on the Position button causes the active

path point to turn blue. It can now be moved

with the trackball. During this process you can

view the position coordinates at the screen

edges. You conrm the new position with the

left trackball button, or cancel with the right

button.

The Position button does not necessarily have to

be used. You can click directly on an active path

point once or on a non-active path point twice

(to make it active) and then drag the path point.

If you would like to put the point outside of the

video frame, then simply by dragging the point

out of the frame causes a representation of the

relevant region beyond the visible surface to

become visible.

The meaning of the path-point colors is

summarized below:

Note: “Interpolation” means the automatic

calculation of values between given control

points.

yellow: a non-active control point without

particular characteristics. Clicking on the point

causes it to turn green (active).

red: a non-active control point for which settings

have been made manually under Edit. This

means that at least one checkmark was set

manually (no interpolation). Clicking on the

point causes it to turn green.

green: the currently active point. The operations

Position, Edit and Delete refer to this point.

Clicking on the point causes it to turn blue.

blue: This point can be dragged to a new

position. After being clicked again the point

turns green.

When you click on Edit, a window appears in

which you can specify the size and the alpha

value of the active path point.

If you click on Size, the window disappears

and the path point becomes active so that its

size can be changed. The size is displayed at

the screen edge. A click on Alpha activates the

slider bar to the side, with which you can set the

transparency value of the drawing between 0

and 100%.

You can disable the buttons Size and Alpha by

clicking on the corresponding check boxes so

that a checkmark appears instead of a dash.

Disabled buttons occur when you have set

intermediate points whose sizes and alpha

values have been calculated automatically using

the start and destination points. The checkmarks

for the rst and last points cannot be reset.

In this case a value must be given because

interpolation is not possible.

If a checkmark is visible, then the value specied

to the left is used at this path point. If a dash

appears, then the corresponding value is

interpolated using the neighboring path points.

The interpolated value is displayed. You can

change the desired state at any time.

If the slider bar is completely lled, then there

currently exists just one path point. If it is

possible to click and move the slider bar, then

there are several path points in your video

material that you may activate. You can use the

individual buttons to the right of the slider bar to

exactly pick one path point after another.

However, if you have chosen a small size or a

small alpha value, then only a green point is

displayed.

The fully displayed drawing may be distracting,

so you should make it visible only to check that

everything is OK.

In this menu it is also possible to see a Preview.

With the Ok button you conrm your settings,

exit the menu and return to the Effect menu.

Here the Preview button lets you see the

preview in a small window. This function lets

you view the preliminary result in this menu.

3.1.5 General

IN/OUT: With these two buttons you can choose

whether your settings refer to fade-in or fade-

out.

Simply click on the desired button so that it

turns blue (active) and is selected.

If you would like to switch from fade-in to fade-

out and make further settings (such as e.g.

changing the fade time or the effect), then you

must go to the Effect window.

Each fade has its own curve and of course its

own parameters. It is important to know that

changing the parameters of the large path point

(last point for fade-in, rst for fade-out) always

affects the large path point of the other effect.

The point displayed in large is the one at which

the drawing stands still during fade-in and fade-

out.

If you click on the dash next to the Image button,

then it is changed to a checkmark (activated).

This means that you now see displayed not only

a green path point, but also your drawing at the

position of the currently active point.

1.) Preview

Here you can let a preview be displayed without

having to exit the program.

2.) Archive

The nished drawing (without video frame)

can be archived and later reused (even in other

scenes). The size of the archive is limited to

about 10 to 12 frames. An attempt to archive

more frames results in a warning message.

3.) Magnifying glass

A magnifying glass can be used whenever you

need to draw precisely. Clicking again on this

button turns off the magnifying glass.

The magnifying glass always shows an are

around the cursor position. You can specify the

magnication (factor 4 to 32) at the lower left. To

the right below you see the cursor coordinates

displayed.

It is also possible to move the magnifying

window to the opposite side of the screen and to

turn off the cross hairs.

4.) Grid

This button is used to toggle a global grid on

and off. You can set the raster size under Special

(in section 3.1.4 Edit functions). When the button

is active, then all drawing functions operate

on an invisible raster so that you can position

objects at exact distances to each other. This

makes it easier, for example, to position objects

or to create tables.

5.) Menu symbol

Here you exit Akaba – New Concept and return

to the Casablanca Edit menu. Akaba – New

Concept saves all settings so that you may

continue editing later.

3.2 Margin areas

Akaba – New Concept allows you to move

the displayed frame automatically to the side

whenever you hit the screen edge with the

cursor. This lets you work in the otherwise

inaccessible margin areas of the video frame.

roughly position the cursor by pressing and

holding down the Navigation key (to the left of

Ctrl) while you use the arrow keys. You achieve

a ne, pixel-wise movement by simultaneously

holding down the Ctrl and Navigation keys while

you use the arrow keys. This ne positioning is

especially useful when creating tables or exact

vertical lines.

3.5 Individual buttons / functions

3.5.1 Palette

If you click on the palette button the Palette

window appears. It is divided into the three

areas Solid, Texture and Bleed.

3.3 Display

The video frame is generally displayed as a

half-frame, i.e. line pairs are identical. Drawings

however are displayed in full resolution so that

you can immediately see how the result will

appear (exception: Retouch).

The full-frame display lets you see when

drawing whether the edited video material (e.g.

when using very thin lines) will icker after

calculation.

Of course, after calculation a full-frame version

of the video portion is also made. No resolution

is lost.

3.4 Notes on the Power Key option

Akaba – New Concept supports the Power Key

Option. Pressing F2 displays the available key

shortcuts.

The possibility to position with the help of

the Power Key is particularly useful. You can

You can toggle between these operations by

using the correspondingly named buttons above

in the appropriate area. The currently active

button is displayed in blue. Toggling occurs

automatically when a corresponding control is

selected.

The preview window at the upper left displays

the currently selected result.

Note: After initial installation of Akaba – New

Concept, no texture has yet been selected. When

you click for the rst time on the Texture button

in the Palette window, an image pool is called

up from which you can select a texture.

After you have selected a texture for the very

rst time, the Texture button toggles the preview

window. You now access the image pool with

the Choose texture button.

- Solid

At rst you can select one of the six color elds

so that it is easy to switch frequently between

the colors used most often. The button Change

color is used to dene a new color. Clicking

on Ok in the color box causes the color in the

current color eld to be replaced with the color

you have just dened.

- Texture

You use the Choose texture button to call up the

image pool from which you can select a texture.

- Bleed

Here you can set a color gradient, such as is

also possible in the image pool. In addition,

you can specify a direction by clicking on Bleed

direction. You specify the direction by setting a

helping line in the video image. This enables the

direction to be adapted to certain parameters.

Any color and alpha transparency can be used

for the beginning and end color.

3.5.2 Pencils and brushes

This window brings together pencil selection

and work with brushes. It is divided into four

areas:

- Pencils

Pencils are used for the various drawing

operations. Some predened pencils are offered

(four square and four round) whose size and

sharpness can be set.

After selecting the desired pencil, you close the

window by clicking on Ok.

- Brushes

Akaba – New Concept supports three brushes

that can be used independently of each other. As

soon as a brush has been selected, the operating

controls and enabled:

Cut

In the second button row you will nd three

possibilities to cut a brush out of the frame:

rectangle, ellipse or polygon. These functions

are carried out analogously to the corresponding

draw functions, but do not change the image

content.

The cut-out brush is displayed in magnied form

in the preview area (below right). The preview

shows the brush in original size, if possible. If

the brush does not t into the preview area, then

it is reduced in size, and this is indicated by an

inserted magnifying-glass symbol.

Immediately after being cut out the brush is

given the blur that has been set. This value

can be changed at any time. For real video it is

usually important that the brush has some blur

in order to create a realistic impression without

a sharply dened edge.

Mode

Here you choose whether the brush is cut out

only from the data of your drawing (Image) or

from the drawing and the background video

image (Image & Video). Please note that the

vertical resolution of the video frame (not the

resolution of the drawing) is halved.

Edit

With the help of these three buttons the current

brush can be rotated 90° to the right (more

than once: 180°, 270°), and mirrored either

horizontally or vertically.

- Attribute

Pencils and brushes can be changed in this

subpanel. For all changes, even concerning the

brushes, there is no additional quality loss when

different functions are used repeatedly.

Technical note: The brushes remain stored in

the background in their original size and are

used as a basis for different actions (e.g. when

reducing in size). In this way full quality is

guaranteed (e.g. after a renewed magnication).

Blur

It is recommended to always work with a little

blur (e.g. 10-20%) in order to attain softer forms

that can be displayed well on a television set,

especially for video editing.

Width

Here the complete size of pencils is determined.

Pencils are always round or square.

The complete brush size can be changed (Lock

aspect on) or only the width can be changed

(Lock aspect off).

is not possible. In this case you should use the

pencils.

After selecting a pencil you usually exit the

window with Ok so that you can use the pencil.

You again see the operating panel, and you can

select a tool.

Cancel

Most of the changes (pencil or brush selection,

attributes, ...) made since the Pencils & Brushes

window was opened are undone when you click

on Cancel. Cut-out brushes and any stamps in

the video, though, remain as they are.

3.5.3 Fill options

Filling surfaces in video frames is very difcult

because there are only uid transitions and no

explicit borders. Because of this, it is necessary

to set a number of different parameters

(threshold values) to obtain acceptable results.

Height

For brushes the height can be set independently

of the width when the Lock aspect button is

deactivated.

Lock aspect

This mode can be set only for brushes. Normally

this function should always be on so that the

aspect ratio of cut-out objects remains the same

in all cases. In special cases it can be shut off so

that width and height can be set independently

of each other.

- Preview

Here you obtain a preview of the active pencil/

brush with the current settings (e.g. blur, mirror).

Stamp

With this button (at the lower window edge)

you close the window and stamp the brush (or

pencil) one or more times directly into the video

frame. By clicking the right trackball key you

come back to the window Pencils & Brushes.

Painting (line, circle) with self-made brushes

- Color

In order that lling continues from the start

position, the color replaced with the ll color

must agree with the start color to the degree

given by this parameter. For 100% the colors

must be identical, for 90% there can be minor

differences between the colors. For a setting of

0% the color is ignored.

- Hue

Setting the hue is done in the same way as with

setting color.

- Alpha

Here the alpha value (transparency) is important.

For this function the button Reference (see

below) must be set to Image, because only

those drawings you have made yourself can

have an alpha value that deviates from 100%. If

you ll your object after you have selected an

alpha value, the object is only lled to a certain

percentage (the alpha value) with the active

color. For every click you obtain a different color

intensity.

- Reference

Here you have the choice between two options.

If you have set Image, only the drawing

operations made are considered, i.e. the video

picture is ignored. In contrast, the mode Image

& Video takes account of both the drawing and

the video.

The reference can only be switched in Draw

mode. For Retouch it affects the unity of

drawing and video, because separate work is not

possible.

Note: It may happen that, while a black object

in your video material is being lled, another

black object is also lled. The reason for this is

that the video frame is surrounded by a black

frame that you can see if you move the screen

cursor outside of the video material (see section

3.2 Margin areas). The black frame connects the

objects contiguous with it in your video material.

3.5.4 Mask

One thing gives Akaba – New Concept

additional possibilities. A mask is supported

for practically all operations. This gives you

the possibility to restrict drawing operations to

certain, freely denable picture regions. You can

even specify how strong an effect should be at a

given position.

The mask appears in gray on top of the video

picture. The greater the amount of gray, the

more the video picture is overlaid (masked) and

the weaker the drawing operations will be. No

changes will be possible where gray completely

hides the video picture. The clearer the video is

(the gray mask is more or less transparent), the

more visible the drawings will be.

You can use several masks, even while you are

drawing, because the mask is used only for

drawing.

The following table presumes that the Show BG

function (see below) is deactivated.

Mask mode

The video picture is completely visible.

The video picture is covered with an opaque, gray mask.

The video picture can be seen through the half-transparent gray mask more or less clearly.

Drawing tools

The most frequently used drawing tools can be

used as usual when drawing the mask.

Transparency

In this window, which you recognize as the

Palette window from the other menus, you can

specify the mask transparency.

Draw mode, Retouch, Gamma

All operations are completely visible.

No further drawings can be made.

Drawing operations are weakened (depending on the level of mask transparency).

The mask is xed, i.e. not connected with

movement in the course of the video scene. A

mask can be drawn in mask mode.

You can set the transparency of the mask with

one of the predened six gray levels. In addition,

you can modify the gray value with values of 0

to 100 using the Change Transparency button.

The following table describes how the mask

transparency is displayed according to the gray

levels.

4. The Three Operating Modes

4.1 Draw mode

In this mode you will nd all buttons and

functions that were explained in the previous

chapter.

4.2 Retouch

Palette color Mask

white completely transpa-

rent, not present

gray half-transparent gray,

the mask has some effect

black gray, the video is

completely covered by the mask

Show BG

This button causes the drawn mask itself to

become half-transparent. This enables you to

see the video picture even behind completely

opaque regions, thus giving you the necessary

orientation when you adapt the mask to a scene.

Archive

Masks that have been created can be saved in

the archive for later use.

This mode serves mostly for manual editing of

the individual frames of a scene. For example,

dropouts (image distortion) can be corrected.

A scene can be of any length, but you are limited

to editing a maximum of 150 half-frames (3

seconds) from the video material. These half-

frames may be at any position within the scene,

i.e. they don’t have to be contiguous.

In the fourth subpanel there are three buttons at

the lower edge:

You can move through the scene with the two

outer buttons. With the middle button you can

make a user-friendly selection: Here, in contrast

to all other places in Casablanca (trim, preview,

etc ...), you can select any half-frame. You can

determine which half-frame is displayed by

the small E (even) or O (odd) to the right of the

frame number.

All operations made affect only the frame

displayed, (in contrast to draw mode).

Copy stamp

In addition to the usual drawing functions,

retouch supplies two copy stamps.

source material available for lling in garbled

regions. However, differing source data can

quickly lead to a repeated pattern.

4.3 Gamma

In this mode you can make corrections to

color and brightness. There are interesting

possibilities when used in combination with

a mask. The changes made are applied later

during calculation to all individual scene frames.

The functions not already explained for other

modes are described below:

At rst you click on a position in the frame as

source. Then you click on the destination point.

Frame data are then continuously copied from

the source position to the destination position

when you move the trackball. This makes it

easy, for example, to cover a dropout (garbled

image data) with similar image material from

another position (see application example 5.2

Retouching a distorted image).

Upper copy stamp

When working with the upper copy stamp,

source and destination always remain at the

same distance to each other. If you move the

drawing position, then the source position for

the copied data is moved correspondingly. In

this way you can exactly copy a source region to

a destination region.

Lower copy stamp

When using the lower copy stamp, the source

position always remains at the selected position.

The same source data is copied independently

of the destination position. This mode is

particularly relevant when there is only limited

1.) Clicking on this button displays three slider

bars for setting Brightness, Contrast and

Saturation.

2.) This button displays the control for setting

the Gamma value.

3.) Here you can change the three basic colors

Red, Green and Blue.

All changes that you make with these functions

are combined during the calculation.

This means that for your scene you can change

brightness, gamma value and the basic colors.

5. Application Examples

We recommend that you work through the

following application examples in order to

familiarize yourself with the way Akaba – New

Concept works.

The exercise examples and tips do not cover all

the functions available in the program, but they

do provide insight so that with a little practice

you will be able to easily use the other functions.

The examples are designed for the new user of

the program and introduce the control elements

one after another. After you have worked

through the examples, we suggest that you

experiment with your own ideas.

5.1 Setting sun

Call up the Palette window, click on the Change

color button and select a bright yellow color in

the color box that appears. Conrm the color

selection with Ok and close the Palette window

by clicking again on Ok.

Then click on the tool Circle (lled) and place the

cursor at a spot in the sky, e.g. in the middle at

the upper scene edge.

This exercise will show you how to draw

an object in your video material and edit it

afterward. You will create a sun and add it to

your video, and then let it set, as it does at dusk.

At rst, take a suitable video scene of about 5

seconds duration in which the sky is visible.

Activate the scene in the scene bin, start Akaba

– New Concept in the Special menu and go to

Draw mode.

In the lower third of the screen you see the

operating panel. The rst frame of your

videoscene is displayed in the background.

Conrm this position with the left trackball key

and drag the circle to the desired size for your

sun. The circle initially takes on an oval form. A

change in cursor display lets you know when the

form becomes a circle (not an ellipse).

When you are satised with the form and size,

click on the left trackball key and then on the

right key so that the operating panel again

appears.

Now click on the Edit button so that a new

operating panel appears in which you now

select the Palette window.

Activate the Bleed option and click on the rst

color eld. Set the previously selected bright

yellow in the color box and conrm it by clicking

on the second color eld. Here you decide to

use a strong orange. Then click on the Bleed

direction so that a positioning line can be seen

in the video material that you can freely move

and position.

Click on the left key in order to position the

left end of the line. Then drag the line in any

direction, e.g. to the lower right, and conrm

this by clicking again on the left trackball key so

that the palette window reappears.

Conrm your selection there with Ok. You now

see that your sun has taken on a color gradient.

Now call up the Pencils & Brushes window and

in the lower window area set some blur so that

the sun is not so strongly delineated against

the background. This produces a more natural

impression of the sun.

You can emphasize the blur even more by

increasing the width of the pencil. Try out a few

settings on your own and then close the Pencils

& Brushes window with a click on Ok.

Click on IN in the Effect window in order to

specify the fade-in of the sun.Set the effect to

the setting Hard cut so that there is no fade-in

time.

Then click on OUT and set the effect to Custom.

Select 3 seconds for the fade time so that fade-

out occurs during 3 seconds and the effect has a

full display time of 2 seconds.

After you have created and positioned the sun,

you can begin adding further effects.

Exit the submenu and return to the drawing-

mode operating panel by clicking on the right

trackball key (or on the rightmost symbol in the

operating panel). Then click on the Effect button

in order to call up the corresponding window.

In the following steps, settings are introduced

that are appropriate for this exercise example.

Please use them for this example, but

remember: in the future, the settings will be

determined by you for the particular need of

your project.

In order to learn about the complete

functionality of all options, please see chapter 3

Operation.

Next, click on the Edit effect button so that an

additional menu is called up. Here you can insert

path points to specify the movement of the sun.

You already see a green point, the start position

of the movement.

Click several times on Insert so that a number

of path points appear. Now you can click on a

desired path point so that it becomes active.

Using the Position button place the path point

until you have a route for the setting of the sun.

By activating the Image button you can display

the sun at the position of the currently active

path point.

After you have set the points, click on Ok in

the operating panel so that you are again in

the Effect window. Conrm here with Ok and

exit drawing mode. Click on Ok in the Special

window and the calculation of the effect is

automatically started.

Your nished scene is certainly no work of

genius, because a setting sun implies that the

sky gradually becomes darker. But with this

example, we hope you have learned one of the

many application areas of the program Akaba

– New Concept, and obtained an overview of the

possibilities it gives you.

5.2 Retouching a distorted image

In case your video material has dropouts, you

can use Akaba – New Concept to repair bad

frame regions without having to remove the

entire frame from your video material.

For this application example take a short scene

with defective frame areas and activate it in the

scene bin. If you don’t have any “defective”

material, then you can simulate a distortion as

follows:

Select a scene in the scene bin and start Akaba

– New Concept. Go to Retouch mode. Select the

symbol for the lled rectangle and place it near

the upper-right image corner with a click on the

left trackball key.

Now you don’t see the operating panel

anymore. Drag to increase the box size until it

is about one square centimeter in size and click

again on the left trackball key to conrm the

size. After clicking again, this time on the right

trackball key, the operating panel reappears.

Now click on the right arrow under the Special

button.

You now see the next frame in the scene and

can put the rectangle in the upper right image

area. It doesn’t have to be at exactly the same

position.

Do the same for the next frame so that the rst

three frames of your video scene have garbled

data.

Exit Retouch mode and then click on Ok in the

Special window so that the effect is calculated.

Now you are in the edit menu.

The scene just calculated is now activated in

the scene bin. You can play it in order to see the

simulated defects.

Now that you have simulated a dropout, (or you

are using pre-existing defective frames), you can

begin retouching work.

Call up Akaba – New Concept and Retouch

mode. You see the rst frame of your

“defective” video scene.

If you have simulated the distortion with Akaba

– New Concept, you see the small block in the

upper image area.

If you are using a pre-existing defective scene

and the dropout occurs in another scene frame,

click of the middle arrow button under the

Special button so that a slider bar appears with

which you can scroll to the rst defective frame:

Select the upper copy stamp in the operating

panel (unlled stamp symbol) and put the green

cursor frame at a position near the defective

block and conrm the position by

clicking on the left trackball key so that you

don’t see the stamp symbol within the frame

anymore.

In this way you have specied the source from

which the video material will be copied in order

to retouch the defective area.

Now position the green frame onto the defective

area. The defective block must not necessarily

be exactly covered.

Click again on the left trackball key to initiate

drawing, and move the (now red) frame

carefully over the defective area until this

area has been completely covered with video

material from the previously selected source

area. Conrm by clicking the left trackball key

and then click the right key to return to the

Retouch mode operating panel.

Now call up the Pencils & Brushes window and

select the brush in the upper left corner.

Then set the Width and Blur to 50% and exit the

window by clicking on Ok.

Because source and destination (defective area)

are always held together at a xed distance,

the source position for the copied data is

also moved whenever you move the drawing

position.

After you have successfully edited the rst

frame, you can continue retouching the next

two frames until the defect has been completely

retouched.

Finally, calculate the scene so that you can

observe the result in full size.

Of course, a dropout can also appear in the

middle of a scene or at several places within a

scene. But the procedure for retouching is the

same.

5.3 Partial brightness correction

An additional way to correct your video material

with Akaba – New Concept is to use Gamma.

If, for example, you have a scene in which

the lower area is too dark and only the sky

is correctly exposed, you can increase the

brightness of the dark spots according to your

taste.

Activate the scene to be altered in the scene bin,

start Akaba – New Concept and select Gamma

mode.

This mode allows you to make brightness and

color corrections to your video material.

You see an operating panel and in the

background the rst frame of your video scene

is displayed.

Click on the mask button to get to the mask

menu. In the mask menu click rst on the

Transparency button (the same as the

Palette button in other menus) to call up the

corresponding window.

Make sure that under Transparent you have

selected the upper-left color eld (black). The

color is displayed in the preview window above

it.

After conrming by clicking on Ok, select the

lled polygon so that you only see your video

frame. The region that is not to be edited must

be covered with a mask.

Move the cursor, for example, to the upper-left

corner and conrm the position. Now you can

draw lines to close in the desired area to be

masked. Enclose in this way the portion of the

video frame that corresponds to the sky.

You should conrm the last line only when

the cursor form has changed indicating that

you are at the start point of the polygon. This

guarantees that you have drawn a closed

polygon.

Closing the polygon brings you back to the mask

operating panel and you see that the polygon

has been lled

ed.

Next, click on the right trackball key or on the

symbol in the lower-right corner of the operating

panel to get to the operating panel for Gamma.

There the mask is not visible. It operates only in

the background.

Make sure that the button next to the mask

symbol displays a checkmark. If not, then you

must click the button to turn the dash into a

checkmark. Only in this way is it certain that

the mask will take effect. Finally, click on the

following symbol:

After the slider bars have appeared, that

(assuming you have not already made any other

settings in this menu) all display a value of

100%, move the slider bar for brightness to the

right, for example to the value 130%. You will

see that the video image becomes brighter and

that only the previously enclosed sky remains

unchanged.

If you still want to make changes, you can still

make corrections. For example, you can enclose

the sky more precisely.

If there are still portions of the sky not enclosed

by the mask, then you should increase the size

of the mask.

Enter mask mode again and with the Pencils &

Brushes button select a small pencil with a light

smudge and conrm your selection by clicking

on Ok. Now you can select the line tool so that

you can put the cursor at the desired position to

enlarge the mask by clicking on the left trackball

key. Roll the trackball until the corresponding

area is covered and conrm by clicking again on

the left trackball key. Finally, click on the right

trackball key in the mask operating panel to

change to mode Gamma where you can observe

the new result.

If too much sky area is covered by the mask

(a tree, for example), then you can correct this

later. Simply click on the mask button, select

the corresponding pencil and click on the eraser

tool. Position the cursor and simply erase the

superuous area!

The changes you have made will be extended

to all individual frames of the scene during

calculation.

Note: Please remember that the mask is xed

and does not move with your video material!

5.4 Title with transparency gradient

In this example you will learn how to create a

title with a transparency gradient.

Take any short scene that you would like to add

a title to. Start Akaba – New Concept, enter

Draw mode and select the mask button.

In mask mode click on the Transparency button

(above the Undo button), then click on Bleed and

afterward on Bleed direction.

Now position the screen cursor to any position,

click on the left trackball key, drag a horizontal

line from left to right and conrm this with a

further click on the left trackball key.

After you have clicked on Ok in the

Transparency window, you will again see the

mask mode operating panel, in which you now

choose the lled rectangle.

Now extend the mask to cover the upper third of

the picture by dragging from the left to the right

screen edge. You see that your rectangular mask

has a color gradient from black to white.

After you have positioned the mask, return to

mask mode by clicking on the right trackball key.

From there you return to drawing mode.

Here you don’t see your mask because it

operates in the background.

Note that for the mask to take effect you must

activate the button next to the mask symbol so

that a checkmark is visible.

Finally, select the text tool T in order to get to

the titling menu. Write a short text, or your rst

name (you can freely choose font, color and font

size).

Then click on the Box Options button and then

on Box-Background in the window displayed in

order to call up the corresponding window.

Here you activate the Transparency function and

conrm the setting with Ok.

Then call up the Box Options again and change

the panel size and position so that you are at the

same place as your previously drawn mask.

After you have exited titling by clicking on Ok,

select mask mode again, activate the Bleed

direction button in the Transparency window,

and draw a line from right to left.

Draw a mask in the lower third of the picture and

then enter the titling menu. Enter your surname

(for example) and follow the same steps as

before.

After calculation you will see your complete

name in the video scene. Your rst name

becomes steadily clearer while your surname

becomes more and more transparent.

7.5 Cutting out a brush

In this example you will learn how to cut out a

brush in order to use it at another position in the

scene.

For example, you can cut out a cloud from the

sky in order to insert several clouds in the same

sky.

For this example take a scene that has some

blue sky and a single cloud. The scene should

not have much movement and the sky should

always be at the same position.

Tip: Alternatively, you can take a scene with a

clear, blue sky without clouds. You can draw the

cloud, as explained below.

Activate the scene in the scene bin so it is the

active scene. Start Akaba – New Concept and

select Draw mode.

Call up the Palette window and choose the white

color eld under Solid.

Activate the Pencils & Brushes window, select a

large, round pencil and set its blur to 100% and

its width to 40%.

& Brushes window and click on one of the three

squares in the upper-right area so that the

buttons below are activated.

In the second button row you will nd the

means to cut a brush out of a picture: rectangle,

circle or polygon.

The cloud is a complex form so pick the polygon

so that you can draw the cloud’s perimeter.

After you have selected the polygon your video

frame appears in full and you can “cut out” the

cloud with the help of the cursor. This action

does not change your image content!

After conrming with Ok, select the freehand

tool and draw a cloud according to your taste.

Finished!

In order to cut out the cloud, call up the Pencils

You will have to draw many short line segments

to trace the curves of the cloud. Click on the left

trackball key for every control point. The last line

must close the polygon. When the polygon is

closed the cursor changes its shape.

The cut-out brush is displayed in larger form in

the preview window (below right in the Pencils

& Brushes window). The preview shows the

brush in original size, if possible. If the brush

does not t into the preview window, then it is

reduced in size, which is indicated by an inserted

magnifying glass.

Immediately after being cut out, the brush is

given the blur factor that has been previously

set. This value can be changed at any time. In

real video it is usually important to give the

brush some blur in order to achieve a realistic

effect, and to avaid sharp edges.

For the cloud you wish to insert you should set

a blur factor of 20%. Be sure to select the mode

Image under the object button row!

Now click on Stamp so that you see the cloud as

a brush on top of your video material.

Now nd an appropriate position for the cloud

and click on the left trackball key. Then click on

the right key in order to return to the Pencils &

Brushes window. Conrm there with Ok so the

operating panel reappears.

If you are satised with the result, then you can

call up the Pencils & Brushes window again and

activate your self-made cloud brush. Each time

you click on Stamp you can copy the cloud to

your video material.

Tip: You can bring some variety to your

video scene and let the clouds appear more

realistically by varying the size of the cloud. To

do this use the slider bars for width and height.

You can also mirror the cloud brush horizontally

or vertically.

MacroSystem Akaba – New Concept User Manual

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual