Pinnacle Systems DekoCast - 4.3 User’s Guide

Avid® DekoCast™ Products

User’s Guide

Product specifications are subject to change without notice and do not represent a commitment on the part of Avid Technology, Inc.

This product is subject to the terms and conditions of a software license agreement provided with the software. The product may only be used in accordance with the license agreemen.

Avid products or portions thereof are protected by one or more of the following United States Patents: 5,267,351; 5,309,528; 5,355,450; 5,396,594; 5,440,348; 5,467,288; 5,513,375; 5,528,310; 5,557,423; 5,577,190; 5,584,006; 5,640,601; 5,644,364; 5,654,737; 5,724,605; 5,726,717; 5,745,637; 5,752,029; 5,754,851; 5,799,150; 5,812,216; 5,828,678; 5,842,014; 5,852,435; 5,986,584; 5,999,406; 6,038,573; 6,061,758; 6,069,668; 6,141,007; 6,211,869; 6,532,043; 6,546,190; 6,596,031; 6,636,869; 6,747,705; 6,763,523; 6,766,357; 6,813,622; 6,847,373; 7,081,900; RE40,107; 7,403,561; 7,433,519; 7,671,871; D352,278; D372,478; D373,778; D392,267; D392,268; D392,269; D395,291; D396,853; D398,912. Other patents are pending.

Avid products or portions thereof are protected by one or more of the following European Patents: 0506870; 0635188; 0674414; 0752174; 1111910; 1629675. Other patents are pending.

This document is protected under copyright law. An authorized licensee of Avid DekoCast may reproduce this publication for the licensee’s own use in learning how to use the software. This document may not be reproduced or distributed, in whole or in part, for commercial purposes, such as selling copies of this document or providing support or educational services to others. This document is supplied as a guide for Avid DekoCast. Reasonable care has been taken in preparing the information it contains. However, this document may contain omissions, technical inaccuracies, or typographical errors. Avid Technology, Inc. does not accept responsibility of any kind for customers’ losses due to the use of this document. Product specifications are subject to change without notice.

The following disclaimer is required by Apple Computer, Inc.:

APPLE COMPUTER, INC. MAKES NO WARRANTIES WHATSOEVER, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, REGARDING THIS PRODUCT, INCLUDING WARRANTIES WITH RESPECT TO ITS MERCHANTABILITY OR ITS FITNESS FOR ANY PARTICULAR PURPOSE. THE EXCLUSION OF IMPLIED WARRANTIES IS NOT PERMITTED BY SOME STATES. THE ABOVE EXCLUSION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU. THIS WARRANTY PROVIDES YOU WITH SPECIFIC LEGAL RIGHTS. THERE MAY BE OTHER RIGHTS THAT YOU MAY HAVE WHICH VARY FROM STATE TO STATE.

The following disclaimer is required by Sam Leffler and Silicon Graphics, Inc. for the use of their TIFF library:

Permission to use, copy, modify, distribute, and sell this software [i.e., the TIFF library] and its documentation for any purpose is hereby granted without fee, provided that (i) the above copyright notices and this permission notice appear in all copies of the software and related documentation, and (ii) the names of Sam Leffler and Silicon Graphics may not be used in any advertising or publicity relating to the software without the specific, prior written permission of Sam Leffler and Silicon Graphics.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED “AS-IS” AND WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR OTHERWISE, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, ANY WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

IN NO EVENT SHALL SAM LEFFLER OR SILICON GRAPHICS BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, INDIRECT OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OF ANY KIND, OR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER OR NOT ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF DAMAGE, AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.

The following disclaimer is required by the Independent JPEG Group:

This software is based in part on the work of the Independent JPEG Group.

The following disclaimer is required by Paradigm Matrix:

Portions of this software licensed from Paradigm Matrix.

The following disclaimer is required by Ray Sauers Associates, Inc.:

“Install-It” is licensed from Ray Sauers Associates, Inc. End-User is prohibited from taking any action to derive a source code equivalent of “Install-It,” including by reverse assembly or reverse compilation, Ray Sauers Associates, Inc. shall in no event be liable for any damages resulting from reseller’s failure to perform reseller’s obligation; or any damages arising from use or operation of reseller’s products or the software; or any other damages, including but not limited to, incidental, direct, indirect, special or consequential Damages including lost profits, or damages resulting from loss of use or inability to use reseller’s products or the software for any reason including copyright or patent infringement, or lost data, even if Ray Sauers Associates has been advised, knew or should have known of the possibility of such damages.

The following disclaimer is required by Videomedia, Inc.:

“Videomedia, Inc. makes no warranties whatsoever, either express or implied, regarding this product, including warranties with respect to its merchantability or its fitness for any particular purpose.”

“This software contains V-LAN ver. 3.0 Command Protocols which communicate with V-LAN ver. 3.0 products developed by Videomedia, Inc. and V-LAN ver. 3.0 compatible products developed by third parties under license from Videomedia, Inc. Use of this software will allow “frame accurate” editing control of applicable videotape recorder decks, videodisc recorders/players and the like.”

The following disclaimer is required by Altura Software, Inc. for the use of its Mac2Win software and Sample Source Code:

The following disclaimer is required by Ultimatte Corporation:

Certain real-time compositing capabilities are provided under a license of such technology from Ultimatte Corporation and are subject to copyright protection.

The following disclaimer is required by 3Prong.com Inc.:

Certain waveform and vector monitoring capabilities are provided under a license from 3Prong.com Inc.

Attn. Government User(s). Restricted Rights Legend

U.S. GOVERNMENT RESTRICTED RIGHTS. This Software and its documentation are “commercial computer software” or “commercial computer software documentation.” In the event that such Software or documentation is acquired by or on behalf of a unit or agency of the U.S. Government, all rights with respect to this Software and documentation are subject to the terms of the License Agreement, pursuant to FAR §12.212(a) and/or DFARS §227.7202-1(a), as applicable.

Trademarks

003, 192 Digital I/O, 192XD I/O, 888 I/O, AirPlay, AirSPACE, AirSPACE HD, AirSpeed, ALEX, Alienbrain, AniMatte, AudioMarket, AudioPages, AudioSuite, AudioVision, AutoSync, Avid, Avid Advanced Response, Avid DNA, Avid DNxcel, Avid DNxHD, AVIDdrive, Avid DS Assist Station, Avid EditStar, Avid Learning Excellerator, Avid Liquid, Avid Liquid Chrome Xe, Avid MEDIArray, Avid Mojo, AvidNet, AvidNetwork, Avid NewStar, Avid Remote Response, AVIDstripe, Avid Unity, Avid Unity ISIS, Avid VideoRAID, Avid Xpress, AVoption, AVX, Beauty Without The Bandwidth, Boom, C|24, CaptureManager, ChromaCurve, ChromaWheel, Command|24, Conectiv, CountDown, DAE, Dazzle, Dazzle Digital Video Creator, Deko, DekoCast, D-Fi, D-fx, DigiDelivery, Digidesign, Digidesign Audio Engine, Digidesign Intelligent Noise Reduction, DigiDrive, DigiLink, DigiMeter, DigiSerial, DigiStudio, DigiStudio Control, Digital Nonlinear Accelerator, DigiTranslator, DINR, DNxchange, do more, DVD Complete, D-Verb, Eleven, Equinox, EveryPhase, ExpertRender, Fastbreak, Fast Track, FieldPak, Film Composer, FilmScribe, Flexevent, FluidMotion, FXDeko, G7, G-Rack, HD Core, HD Process, HDPack, HYBRID, HyperControl, HyperSPACE, HyperSPACE HDCAM, IllusionFX, Image Independence, iNEWS, iNEWS Assign, iNEWS ControlAir, Instantwrite, Instinct, Intelli-sat Broadcasting Recording Manager, Intelli-Sat, InterFX, Interplay, inTONE, Intraframe, iS9, iS18, iS23, iS36, ISIS, IsoSync, KeyRig, KeyStudio, LaunchPad, LeaderPlus, Lightning, ListSync, Lo-Fi, Magic Mask, Make Anything Hollywood, make manage move | media, Marquee, M-Audio, M-Audio Micro, Maxim, Mbox, MCXpress, Media Browse, Media Composer, MediaDock, MediaDock Shuttle, Media Fusion, Media Illusion, MediaLog, Media Reader, Media Recorder, MEDIArray, MediaShare, MediaStream, Media Suite, Meridien, MetaFuze, MetaSync, MicroTrack, Midiman, MissionControl, Mix Rack, MixLab, Moviebox, Moviestar, NaturalMatch, Nearchive, NetReview, NewsCutter, Nitris, NRV-10 interFX, Octane, OMF, OMF Interchange, OMM, OnDVD, Open Media Framework, Open Media Management, Palladium, Pinnacle, Pinnacle DistanTV, Pinnacle Geniebox, Pinnacle HomeMusic, Pinnacle MediaSuite, Pinnacle Mobile Media, Pinnacle Studio, Pinnacle Studio MovieBoard, Pinnacle Systems, ProEncode, ProServices, ProSessions, Pro Tools, QuietDrive, Recti-Fi, Reel Tape Delay, Reel Tape Flanger, Reel Tape Saturation, RetroLoop, rS9, rS18, Salesview, Sci-Fi, Scorch, Scorefitter, ScriptSync, SecureProductionEnvironment, Session, Show Center, Sibelius, SIDON, Soft SampleCell, Soft-Clip Limiter, Sound Designer II, SPACE, SPACEShift, SpectraGraph, SpectraMatte, Sputnik, Starplay, SteadyGlide, Streamfactory, Streamgenie, StreamRAID, Strike, Structure, Studiophile, SubCap, Sundance Digital, Sundance, Symphony, SYNC HD,

SynchroScience, SynchroScope, Syntax, TDM FlexCable, Thunder, Titan, Titansync, TL Aggro, TL AutoPan, TL Drum Rehab, TL Everyphase, TL Fauxlder, TL In Tune, TL MasterMeter, TL Metro, TL Space, TL Utilities, Torq, Torq Xponent, Transfuser, Trigger Finger, Trillium Lane Labs, TruTouch, UnityRAID, Vari-Fi, Velvet, Venom, VideoRAID, Video Slave Driver, VideoSPACE, VideoSpin, Vortx, Xdeck, X-Form, Xmon, Xponent, and X-Session are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Avid Technology, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries.

Adobe and Photoshop are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries. Apple and Macintosh are trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. Windows is either a registered trademark or trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries.

iNEWS, iNEWS ControlAir, and Media Browse are either registered trademarks or trademarks of iNews, LLC. All other trademarks contained herein are the property of their respective owners.

GOT FOOTAGE?

Editors — Filmmakers — Special Effects Artists — Game Developers — Animators — Educators — Broadcasters — Content creators of every genre — Just finished an incredible project and want to share it with the world?

Send us your reels and we may use your footage in our show reel or demo!*

For a copy of our release and Avid’s mailing address, go to www.avid.com/footage.

*Note: Avid cannot guarantee the use of materials submitted.

Avid DekoCast Products User Guide • 0130-07809-01 Rev B • April 2010

Symbols and Conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

If You Need Help. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Accessing the Online Library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

How to Order Documentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Avid Training Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Chapter 1 Getting Started . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Why Use DekoCast?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

DekoCast Products and Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

DekoCast Workflow. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Controlling DekoCast On-Air Video Output. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Before You Begin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Starting and Closing DekoCast Applications. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Switching Between Video Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Configuring Your DekoCast System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Basic Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

DekoCast Main Window. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Scenes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Scene Tree. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Object Editors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Actions and the Timeline Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Performance Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Parameters Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Log Pane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Adjusting the DekoCast Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Online Help. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Understanding Files and File Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Setting Up Directories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Scene Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Supported File Formats. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Copying Files. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Viewing Information About Your DekoCast System. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Quick Start: Fading a Graphic On and Off . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Before You Begin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Creating a Scene. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Adding Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Adding Actions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Playing the Scene in DekoCast Central . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Using the Sample Scenes and Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Chapter 2 Working with Scenes and Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Scenes Pane and Toolbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Creating a New Scene . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Renaming and Saving a Scene . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Opening an Existing Scene . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Working with Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

Adding Objects to the Scene Tree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

Objects Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

Renaming Objects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

Working with the Scene Tree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

Expanding or Collapsing a Branch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

Deleting Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

Inserting a Scene within a Scene Tree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

How Objects Are Composited . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

Understanding Grouped Objects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Rearranging Objects in the Scene Tree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Understanding Parent-Child Relationships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Selecting Scenes for Output. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Multiple Scenes and Stacking Order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

Chapter 3 Editing Objects in the Scene. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

Using an Object Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

Editing Video Out Objects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

Setting Background Color and Opacity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

Selecting a Custom Background Color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

Editing Video In Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

Selecting a Video Input Port. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

Changing the Opacity of a Video Input Object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

Using the Target and Position Tabs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

Arranging Objects for Video Output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

Using Screen Coordinates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

Using Thumbwheel Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88

Using the Target Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

Defining a Target Rectangle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

Scaling an Object in Relation to Its Target Rectangle. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

Using The Position Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

Changing an Object’s Position and Scale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

Cropping an Object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

Designing Your Layout. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

Guidelines for Using Target Rectangles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

Suggestions for Preparing Your Layout. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

Transferring a Layout to a Scene . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100

Example: Defining a Target Rectangle for Video In . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100

Using the Levels and Mixer Tabs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

Using the Levels Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

Using the Mixer Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

Understanding Color Coding in the Levels and Mixing Tabs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106

Working with Deko Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108

Adding a Deko Object to a Scene . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

Example: Deko Object with Ten Text Layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

Guidelines for Adding Deko Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

Editing and Updating Deko Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

Naming Layers in PostDeko Lite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

Positioning and Sizing a Deko Object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115

Adjusting Opacity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116

Working with Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116

Using the Text Override Option . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

Using the Contents Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

Using Text Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

Displaying Crawls and Rolls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

Transition Options for Deko Object Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125

Looping Options for Deko Object Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127

Managing Text Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128

Using Embedded Tags with Deko Object Text. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128

Displaying Clocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131

Displaying a Time-of-Day Clock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131

Displaying a Count-Up or Count-Down Timer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

Deko Object Clock Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

Displaying Temperature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136

Playing Back Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136

Capturing Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138

Playing Back Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140

Understanding Clip Playback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141

Managing Clip Playback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143

Clip Playback File and Compression Formats. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143

Adding and Defining a Clip Playback Object. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144

Clip Playback Object Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147

Playing and Looping Clips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148

Transcoding SD Clips to MPEG-2 MXF I-Frame. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

Suggested Workflow for Transcoding. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151

Transcoding Clips Through the Transcode Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152

Transcoding By Dragging Clips to the Transcode Icon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158

Transcoding Clips By Using a Watch Folder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159

Transcoding Through a Default Watch Folder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160

Transcoding Through a Custom Watch Folder. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161

Transcoding Clips When a Scene Opens. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163

Capturing Clips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165

Setting Up Clip Capture (Corsica Systems) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166

Setting Up Clip Capture (TARGA Systems). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168

Capturing a Clip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172

Creating Cel Animations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173

Rules for Creating Cel Animations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173

Defining the Source File for a Cel Animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175

Controlling Appearance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176

Controlling Playback Behavior Within the Scene . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177

Controlling Cel Animation Playback Through Commands. . . . . . . . . . . . . 177

Controlling Cel Animation Updates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179

Displaying Individual Frames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181

Using Group Objects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181

Adding a Group Object. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183

Setting the Opacity and Softness for a Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183

Setting the Compositing Style for a Group. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184

Capturing Video Images (Frame Grab). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186

Working with VBI Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188

How VBI Objects Work. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189

Data Types. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190

Field Identifier Strings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191

Creating Crawls. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192

Creating Crawl Text Using the Crawl Object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193

Creating a Roll . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195

Controlling the Crawl Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196

Changing Crawl Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197

Using a Text File for a Crawl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199

Controlling the Crawl Text Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200

Changing the Appearance of Crawl Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201

Setting the Crawl Object Rectangle and Position. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204

Adding Non-Text Objects to Crawl Text. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205

Adding Non-Text Objects as Linked Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206

Controlling the Position of Non-Text Objects in a Crawl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208

Deleting and Replacing Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209

Example: Inserting Objects into a Crawl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210

Example: Applying a Parameter Value to an Inserted Object . . . . . . . . . 212

Using an Inserted Object to Trigger an Action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214

Inserting Objects by Using Crawl Object Tags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215

Adding Non-Text Objects as Custom Typefaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216

Adding Plug-in Objects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217

Working with Charts and Graphs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219

Accessing the Chart Designer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220

Basic Procedure for Creating Charts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222

Creating a Series. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222

Configuring Chart Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224

(Optional) Assigning Interactivity for the Mouse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225

Assigning Data to a Series . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227

Working with Advanced Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229

Using Series Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229

Setting the Series Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230

Setting the Series Data Labels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233

Setting the Series Data Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236

Setting the Series Legend . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237

Setting the Series Markers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238

Modifying the Series List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239

Using Axes Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240

Setting the Axes Appearance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241

Setting the Axes ConstLines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242

Setting the Axes Gridlines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244

Setting the Axes Labels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245

Setting the Axes Paging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246

Setting the Axes Position . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248

Setting the Axes Stripes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249

Setting the Axes Ticks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251

Setting the Axes Title . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252

Using Background Controls. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254

Setting the Background Appearance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254

Setting the Basic Frame Background. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256

Setting the Image Frame Background. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257

Using Labels Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260

Setting the Label Appearance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260

Setting the Label Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262

Setting the Label Position . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263

Creating the Label List. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265

Using Legend Controls. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266

Setting the Legend Appearance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266

Setting the Legend Layout. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267

Setting the Legend Marks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269

Setting the Legend Position. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270

Setting the Legend Titles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272

Using Walls Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273

Setting the Wall Appearance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273

Setting the Wall Size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275

Using Watermarks Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276

Setting the Watermark Appearance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276

Setting the Basic Frame Watermarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278

Setting the Watermark Position. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279

Creating the Watermark List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281

Using Lighting Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282

Setting the Lighting Appearance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282

Setting the Lighting Attenuation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284

Setting the Lighting Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285

Setting the Lighting Direction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286

Setting the Lighting Position . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287

Creating the Lighting Source List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288

Using View Controls. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289

Setting the Global Setup View. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289

Setting the View Margins. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290

Setting the View Projection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291

Setting the View Size. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292

Setting the Text Size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293

Template Configuration Controls. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294

Configuring Your Templates. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295

Chapter 5 Adding Actions to a Scene . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297

Understanding Actions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297

Using the Timeline Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299

Creating Actions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300

Adding an Action to the Action List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301

Working in Animate Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303

Adding Action Parameters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304

Adding Parameters from the Parameters Tab. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306

Understanding Keyframes and the Timeline Graph . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307

Adjusting Timing in the Timeline Bar Editor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308

Creating Trigger Actions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309

Creating Actions Over Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311

Creating Actions with Defined Beginning and Ending Parameters. . . . . . 312

Creating Time Capture Actions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 314

Adding a Capture Keyframe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315

Preserving Passive Parameters for Scenes with Multiple Actions . . . . . . . . . 316

Reordering Parameters in the List. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317

Playing Actions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317

Editing Actions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318

Copying and Pasting Actions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318

Copying and Pasting Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319

Detaching and Attaching Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320

Replacing One Parameter with Another . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320

Editing Curves and Keyframes in the Timeline Graph. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321

Editing the Motion Curve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321

Selecting a Keyframe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325

Adding or Deleting a Keyframe. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325

Adjusting the Timing or Value of a Keyframe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326

Editing the Value of a Keyframe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326

Creating Actions Check List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327

Creating Sample Actions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330

Example 1: Squeeze and Tease . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330

Example 2: Unsqueeze . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331

Example 3: Crossfade (Dissolve). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332

Example 4: Lower-Third Reveal. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333

Chapter 6 Working with Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335

Using the Parameters Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336

Searching for a Parameter Value . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337

Editing a Parameter Value . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338

Creating User Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340

Creating an Action that Triggers Another Action. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340

Replacing a Parameter with Results of a Database Query. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343

Chapter 7 Using DekoCast Central . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351

Understanding DekoCast Central . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 352

Working with DekoCast Central . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 354

Configuring DekoCast Central for Automation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 355

Configuring Data Streams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 355

Configuring GPIs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 358

Configuring Local GPIs (Local RS-232 COM Port) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359

Configuring External GPIs (RS-232 GPI Box). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 360

Logging DekoCast Central Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 360

Automation Control Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361

Viewing DekoCast Central Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 362

Using the Asset Viewer Utility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363

Viewing Automation Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363

Ports for Automation Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363

Triple i Command Formats. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 364

The M Command. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 364

The W Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 364

The Y Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366

Using Command Queues. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367

Defining House IDs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 370

Playing Multiple Actions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371

House ID Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 372

Overriding Object Parameter Values. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 372

Working with the Playback Controller. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 374

Playing Events. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 377

Copying Today’s Playlist to Tomorrow’s List. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 378

Working with the Graphical User Interface. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 378

Setting the Size of Action Buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 379

Setting Up Scenes in the GUI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 380

Working with Actions in the GUI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 381

Prestarting, Starting, and Exiting Actions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 382

Changing a Deko Object’s Text Value. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 382

DekoCast Central Utilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383

Using the Sequencer Control Utility. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383

Using the Deko Page Recall Utility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 385

Using the Temperature Probe Interface Utility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 386

Configuring the DGH Temperature Probe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 387

Configuring the Sensatronics Temperature Probe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 390

Using the Aut File Sequencer Utility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 393

Using the Emergency Alert System Interface. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395

Creating an EAS Scene . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395

Starting and Configuring the EAS Interface. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 396

Chapter 8 Using Sequence to Play Back Actions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 401

Starting Sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 402

Creating a Sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403

Editing Sequence Items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 407

Editing a Sequence List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 407

Deleting and Replacing Items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 407

Copying and Pasting Sequence Items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 408

Changing an Action’s Timing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 408

Controlling Playback. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 409

Editing Action Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 411

Using the Sequence Toolbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 412

Appendix A Configuring DekoCast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 415

Opening the Preferences Dialog Box. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 415

Video Hardware Options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 416

Video Format Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417

Video Standard and Aspect Ratio Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417

Dolby-E Passthrough Option. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 418

Encode/Decode Option . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 418

Hardware Configuration Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 419

Video Output Configuration Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 420

Audio Output Configuration Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 421

VBI Source and Extra Lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 422

Horizontal Delay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 423

Video Input Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 423

Audio Source Configuration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 424

Shape Input and Output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 425

XML Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 427

Application Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 428

Output Frame Coordinates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 429

Transcode and Scene Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 430

Appendix B DekoCast Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 435

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 439

Using This Guide

Congratulations on your purchase of the Avid® DekoCast™ application. Avid DekoCast provides broadcasters with a wide range of on-air edge applications including channel branding, in-program promotions and advertising, sophisticated credit sequences, and weather and other data-driven alerts. The Avid DekoCast family consists of the Avid DekoCast and Avid DekoCast Authoring Station systems, which are available as either standard definition (SD), high definition (HD), or hybrid (SD/HD) models.The following applications are included with all DekoCast and DekoCast Authoring systems: Avid DekoCast, Avid PostDeko Lite, Avid Sequence, and Avid DekoCast Central.

This guide provides task-oriented instructions, conceptual information, and reference material for using the features of the DekoCast family of products. This guide is intended for all DekoCast users who develop, manage, and control edge applications in a broadcast environment. The audience includes artists who create edge graphics, operators who control video output, and video engineers who configure the DekoCast system.

The DekoCast products are installed and run on the Microsoft system. This guide assumes that you have a basic working knowledge of Windows XP.

This documentation describes the features and hardware of all models. Therefore, your

system might not contain certain features and hardware covered in the documentation.

Windows® XP operation

If you are reading a black-and-white hardcopy printout of this document, you will find it

useful to view the color images in the online PDF version of this document, which is available in the Online Library for your application.

Symbols and Conventions

Avid documentation uses the following symbols and conventions:

Symbol or Convention Meaning or Action

> This symbol indicates menu commands (and

Italic font Italic font is used to emphasize certain words and to

Courier Bold font

Ctrl+key or mouse action Press and hold the first key while you press the last

A note provides important related information, reminders, recommendations, and strong suggestions.

A caution means that a specific action you take could cause harm to your computer or cause you to lose data.

subcommands) in the order you select them. For example, File > Import means to open the File menu and then select the Import command.

This symbol indicates a single-step procedure. Multiple arrows in a list indicate that you perform one of the actions listed.

indicate variables.

Courier Bold font identifies text that you type.

key or perform the mouse action, for example, Ctrl+drag.

If You Need Help

If you are having trouble using Avid DekoCast:

1. Retry the action, carefully following the instructions given for that task in this guide. It is especially important to check each step of your workflow.

2. Check for the latest information that might have become available after the documentation was published.

- A ReadMe file is supplied on your Avid application CD as a PDF document

(ReadMe.pdf).

- The latest version is available online on the Avid Knowledge Base. To view the

online version, select ReadMe from the Help menu or visit the Knowledge Base at

www.avid.com/readme

If You Need Help

You should always check online for the most up-to-date release notes or ReadMe because the online version is updated whenever new information becomes available.

3. Check the documentation that came with your Avid application or your hardware for maintenance or hardware-related issues.

4. Visit the online Knowledge Base at www.avid.com/onlinesupport. Online services are available 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. Search this online Knowledge Base to find answers, to view error messages, to access troubleshooting tips, to download updates, and to read or join online message-board discussions.

Accessing the Online Library

The Avid DekoCast Online Library CD-ROM contains all the product documentation in PDF format.

You need Adobe® Reader® to view the documentation online. You can download the latest

version from the Adobe web site www.adobe.com.

To access the online library from the Online Library CD-ROM:

1. Insert the Online Library CD-ROM into the drive.

2. If the opening screen of the library does not open automatically, double-click the appropriate CD drive letter. If necessary, double-click the Mainmenu file.

How to Order Documentation

To order additional copies of this documentation from within the United States, call Avid Sales at 800-949-AVID (800-949-2843). If you are placing an order from outside the United States, contact your local Avid representative.

Avid Training Services

Avid makes lifelong learning, career advancement, and personal development easy and convenient. Avid understands that the knowledge you need to differentiate yourself is always changing, and Avid continually updates course content and offers new training delivery methods that accommodate your pressured and competitive work environment.

To learn about Avid's new online learning environment, Avid Learning Excellerator (ALEX), visit http://learn.avid.com.

For information on courses/schedules, training centers, certifications, courseware, and books, please visit www.avid.com/training or call Avid Sales at 800-949-AVID (800-949-2843).

™

Chapter 1

1 Getting Started

Avid DekoCast combines real-time video, graphics, effects, and audio capabilities into a single system that you can operate manually from Master Control or integrate with any traffic or automation system. The following sections provide basic information about DekoCast and its components:

• Why Use DekoCast?

• DekoCast Products and Applications

• DekoCast Workflow

• Controlling DekoCast On-Air Video Output

• Before You Begin

• Starting and Closing DekoCast Applications

• Switching Between Video Formats

• Configuring Your DekoCast System

• Basic Components

• Understanding Files and File Types

• Viewing Information About Your DekoCast System

• Quick Start: Fading a Graphic On and Off

• Using the Sample Scenes and Media

1 Getting Started

Why Use DekoCast?

DekoCast provides you with tools that you can use for channel branding, in-program promotions and advertising, sophisticated credit sequences, and data-driven alerts such as weather and school closings. DekoCast combines a comprehensive set of real-time capabilities — including character generator (CG), video, graphics, effects, and audio — into a single system that you can integrate with any traffic or automation system. DekoCast generates real-time Deko graphics layers, including multi-row crawls, rolls, still images, and animated text. DekoCast can also capture and play back independent video clips. DekoCast's audio capture, playback, and mixing system can mix audio stored with video clips, in addition to audio files such as sound effects and brand music stored on DekoCast.

For example, DekoCast lets you create a layout that modifies the studio camera input of a news anchor with the following additions:

• Crop the anchor video and add a moving background.

• At the bottom of the screen, add a national headline news crawl.

• Add stock quotes and RSS data feeds.

• Add a weather or traffic report graphic that is a looping cel animation or a static graphic.

• Include a time-of-day stamp that loops through each time zone of the region.

The following illustration shows an example of a DekoCast layout.

DekoCast makes the design of your layout more flexible by letting you associate objects with defined areas of the video output frame called target rectangles. When confined to a target rectangle, objects always display in the same position on the video output, which allows you to develop one scene for both standard- and high-definition output.

DekoCast Products and Applications

Layout with target rectangles

The following illustration shows the target rectangles used to create the layout in the preceding example.

For more information, see “Arranging Objects for Video Output” on page 86.

DekoCast Products and Applications

The Avid DekoCast family consists of Avid DekoCast and the Avid DekoCast Authoring Station. These products are available in three models:

• DekoCast SD (standard definition)

The current version of DekoCast SD ships with the Corsica video board. Older SD

systems were shipped with the TARGA

board. There are differences between these two models. For example, Corsica-based systems use MPEG-2 MXF I-Frame as the native file format for clip capture and playback, while TARGA-based systems use either DV 25, MPEG-2 LongGOP, or MPEG-2 I-Frame. Where appropriate, these differences are described in this guide.Where appropriate, these differences are described in these Help topics.

• DekoCast HD (high definition)

The current version of DekoCast HD ships with the Corsica video board. Older HD versions were also shipped with the Corsica board. There is no functional difference between these models.

• DekoCast SD/HD (hybrid)

DekoCast SD/HD systems allow you to work in either standard definition or high definition. This model ships with the Corsica video board. For more information, see

“Switching Between Video Formats” on page 29.

1 Getting Started

Artists can develop on-air edge graphics using either DekoCast or the DekoCast Authoring Station. The Authoring Station is a fully featured DekoCast system designed for creating and previewing content, but is not intended for on-air use. (Authoring Station video output is watermarked.) For information on moving projects from one system to another, see

“Copying Files” on page 42.

The user interface for the DekoCast and DekoCast Authoring Station applications are

identical.

Two options are available for DekoCast:

• The Clip Player is an option that provides multi-stream clip playback and storage for clips. See “Playing Back Clips” on page 140.

• The Cel Animation Player is an option that lets a DekoCast system import and cycle through a series of numbered image files for animated playout. See “Creating Cel

Animations” on page 173.

The following applications are included with all DekoCast and DekoCast Authoring systems:

• Avid PostDeko Lite PostDeko Lite is a full-color video-character generator provided as a graphics creation

tool for DekoCast. Although PostDeko Lite does not support features found in on-air Deko of the power of Deko 3000 for building text and graphic layers. Graphic files built in PostDeko Lite (.dko files) can be used seamlessly in other Deko products (and files built in Deko products can be used in PostDeko Lite).

systems, such as motions, cel animations, effects, and sequences, it does have all

PostDeko Lite controls the default directories for the Deko graphics files used by DekoCast (see “Setting Up Directories” on page 37). For information about using PostDeko Lite to create content for DekoCast, see the Avid Deko Products User’s Guide, which is included with your DekoCast documentation.

• Avid DekoCast Central

You can use DekoCast Central as a standalone playout application or in conjunction with a station’s automation system to control playout of a scene on the on-air DekoCast system. For more information, see “Using DekoCast Central” on page 351.

• Avid Sequence

The Sequence application controls the playback and timing of actions in scenes without using or modifying original scenes or actions. For more information, see “Using

Sequence to Play Back Actions” on page 401.

DekoCast Workflow

How you integrate DekoCast into your workflow depends on the requirements of your facility. Here is one typical workflow for creating DekoCast scenes and controlling video output:

1. Create or otherwise obtain the content for DekoCast source files. Content includes graphics, animations, clips, and audio. Artists create graphics content

for DekoCast using Deko, PostDeko Lite, or other image-editing applications. You must use Deko files (.dko) if the text information is to be updated with automation or text files. Crawls are usually linked to a Deko graphic that contains a text layer. Cel animations, clips, and audio files are typically created in other programs and linked within DekoCast.

2. Using an offline DekoCast or DekoCast Authoring Station, assemble a scene, which is the basic file for DekoCast output.

3. Transfer all of the scene files to the local disk of the on-air DekoCast system. Ensure that all of the files, file names, and the complete paths for scenes are the same on both DekoCast systems.

All DekoCast systems in a workflow must be configured to use the same drive structure. Use drive D for elements, scenes, and graphics that are static images. Use drive E for clips and audio files. You can save cel animation source files in a directory on either drive D or E.

DekoCast Workflow

Always copy the DekoCast source files to the on-air DekoCast system’s local disk. A network

failure that prevents a DekoCast system’s access to files stored over a network might interrupt on-air broadcasting.

4. Use DekoCast Central to play the DekoCast scene to air.

1 Getting Started

Transfer files from the offline to the on-air system. Make sure the systems have matching drive configurations.

Use the offline DekoCast to create a scene and add graphics to video.

Studio feed (router)

Video In A

On-air DekoCast system

Use DekoCast Central to play out to air

Offline DekoCast or DekoCast Authoring Station

PostDeko Lite or other graphics creation system

Video Out A

Transfer source images to the offline DekoCast system.

The following illustration shows a possible configuration and workflow.

Controlling DekoCast On-Air Video Output

There are several ways to control the DekoCast on-air video output:

• Use DekoCast Central, which you can control through a graphical-user interface (GUI) or by General Purpose Interface (GPI) and Triple i automation. Automation control can be through RS-232 (COM 1 or COM 2) or RS-422 (COM 3 or COM 4). For more information, see “Using DekoCast Central” on page 351.

• Use XML to control DekoCast. This involves a user-written or third-party application that sends XML commands through either a serial connection (COM port) or a network socket. If you have such an application, specify the COM port or network port used to send XML commands. For more information, see “XML Configuration” on page 427.

• Use a custom Application Programming Interface (API) developed by third-party developers. For COM control, use the application API. For serial control, use the Byte Stream Command Interface (BCI). See the Rocket Engine API documentation and the Rocket Engine BCI documentation, which are available on the Avid Customer Service Knowledge Base (www.avid.com/onlinesupport).

Before You Begin

• Use the Avid Sequence application to set up a series of actions from scenes whose playout can be controlled by GPIs. For more information, see “Using Sequence to Play

Back Actions” on page 401.

Before running DekoCast on air, close all applications not directly related to on-air play to conserve resources. If DekoCast is on air, do not use the DekoCast authoring interface. DekoCast must be offline to preview or add scenes. Close DekoCast before running DekoCast Central on air.

Before You Begin

Before you start DekoCast, set up your system and install the DekoCast product applications as described in the Avid On-Air Graphics Setup and Configuration Guide.

Make sure that all DekoCast systems in a workflow are configured to use the same drive structure. Use drive D for elements, scenes, and graphics that are static images. Use drive E for clips and audio files. You can save cel animation source files in a folder on either drive D or drive E. For more information, see “Setting Up Directories” on page 37.

DekoCast operates with Serial Digital Interface (SDI) video. To have video input, your system needs to be connected to an SDI input device such as a router.

DekoCast does not display any output on your Windows desktop. To view work in progress, attach a video output monitor to your DekoCast system. Always set your video output monitor to the underscan setting to prevent peripheral material from being present in the video output that displays on this monitor.

Installing any third-party software on your DekoCast that has not been explicitly recommended by Avid could void your support agreement. Never install third-party software without first consulting both the third party and Avid Technology, Broadcast Support.

Starting and Closing DekoCast Applications

After installation, there are five Avid desktop shortcuts on your desktop: DekoCast, PostDeko Lite, Sequence, DekoCast Central, and Transcode. Double-click a shortcut to open its application.

See the Avid On-Air Graphics Setup and Configuration Guide for complete instructions on

using the physical components of your system.

1 Getting Started

To start the DekoCast application:

1. Set the two switches for the dual power supply at the rear of the unit to the On position.

2. Turn on the DekoCast system by pressing the On button on the front of the unit.

3. Log on to Windows XP Professional.

4. Do one of the following:

t Double-click the DekoCast shortcut on the desktop. t Click the Start button and select All Programs > DekoCast > DekoCast.

The DekoCast main window opens.

If you have a DekoCast SD/HD hybrid system, see “Switching Between Video Formats” on

page 29.

To exit the DekoCast application, do one of the following:

t From the menu bar, select File > Exit. t Click the close button in the main DekoCast window.

When you exit DekoCast, you are prompted to save each scene that you have changed, one scene at a time.

To start PostDeko Lite, Sequence, DekoCast Central, or Transcode, do one of the following:

t Double-click the shortcut on the desktop. t Click the Start button and select All Programs > PostDekoLite > PostDekoLite. t Click the Start button, select All Programs > DekoCast, and select the appropriate

application.

You can run DekoCast and the other applications simultaneously. Press Alt + Tab to switch between open applications.

• For information on using PostDeko Lite, see the Avid Deko Products User’s Guide or the Avid Deko Help.

• For information on using Transcode, see “Transcoding SD Clips to MPEG-2 MXF

I-Frame” on page 149.

• For information on using Sequence, see “Using Sequence to Play Back Actions” on

page 401.

• For information on using DekoCast Central, see “Using DekoCast Central” on

page 351.

Switching Between Video Formats

If you have a DekoCast SD/HD hybrid system, you can switch from an SD format to an HD format, or from an HD format to an SD format. For example, you can work in an NTSC project, and then switch to a 1080i/59.94 HD project.

For more information about available formats, see “Video Hardware Options” on page 416.

To switch from one video format to another:

1. Select Options > Preferences.

2. Click the Video Hardware Options tab.

3. In the Video Format section, select the desired format from the Standard list.

4. If necessary, select the appropriate aspect ratio (4 x 3 or 16 x 9).

5. Click OK.

6. If you are switching from HD to SD, or SD to HD, follow the screen prompts to restart the application.

Restarting the application is not required when switching between NTSC and PAL or between HD formats.

Switching Between Video Formats

Configuring Your DekoCast System

Before using your DekoCast system, you need to configure DekoCast for your particular installation. Configuration includes defining input and output channels and other hardware settings. For complete information, see “Configuring DekoCast” on page 415.

A DekoCast system has two video input ports. By default, a DekoCast system is configured for one video input, but you can configure it to have two video inputs, or to have one video input and one key input.

A DekoCast system is configured by default with one video output. A second video output port exists that can be configured as a key channel. A DekoCast system is usually installed downstream of the switcher. When a DekoCast system is installed upstream as a keying device into the switcher, it must be configured with Output A as the video fill and Output B as the key signal. Use the Video Hardware Options tab in the Options dialog box to configure DekoCast’s input and output ports. See “Hardware Configuration Settings” on

page 419.

TARGA-based SD systems support 16-bit audio. Corsica-based SD systems support 20-bit audio, and Corsica-based HD systems support 24-bit audio.

1 Getting Started

Performance tab

Log pane

Scenes pane

Object pane

Timeline editor

Object Editor pane Parameters tab

Basic Components

This section presents an overview of the most important components of DekoCast. For an example of how to use these component to build and play out a scene, see “Quick Start:

Fading a Graphic On and Off” on page 45.

DekoCast Main Window

After you start the DekoCast application, the DekoCast main window opens with a set of empty panes. This window provides the interface for developing DekoCast projects.

The major areas (or panes) of the window are the Scenes pane, the Object pane (where the Scene Tree is displayed), the Object Editor pane, the Timeline editor, and the Log pane. You can resize each of these panes to suit your current working style by selecting a border of a pane and dragging it to another position.

+ 418 hidden pages