PAV technologies
Ben-Gurion University of
the Negev
User Manual
Timeline for a Unified Sound, Video and 3DAnimation Integration Environment
Team members
Academic Advisor
Technical Advisors
Ofir Dagan
Benny Holtzer
Rafi Pinto
Ravit Huber
Dr. Yuval Alovitz
Michael Bruggeman
Greg Meyers
1. Introduction
1.1 Vision
In a time like ours, where integration between Sound, Video and 3D
animation is massively used by a big and various audiences (e.g. Cinema,
Video games) one would imagine the work behind the scene is complicated,
but yet, fully suited for the comfort and efficiency of its clients.
However, this is not the case today.
Top softwares in the market do not provide a single unified work
environment that fully integrates Sound, Video and 3D animations.
PAV technologies primary goal is to supply such a solution:
eQuinox - a visual work environment that fully integrates Sound, Video and
3D animation in a single user friendly platform.
Our objective is to build the multi-channel GUI Timeline module to fully support
and display user operations and integration of each channel in the timeline for the
3D Animation, Audio and Video Objects.
The timeline must display multiple channels that graphically show the above
objects in frames representing the active time span (start to stop time) of the
included objects.
1.2 The Problem Domain
In our times, the film making technology has developed enormously.
To produce a successful movie, the audience expects nothing less than
state of the art technology, movies like Avatar, Transformers, UP, have
set the bar extremely high, the scenes that integrate 3D animation
sequences and the scenes of the film itself should seem like if they were
actually real and shot together.
Of course, for the audience, this is a joyous time, but, it is not the same
for the production company, who faces a very complex and long process,
making that magic, happen.
One part of the film making process, which relates to our problem
domain, is the Post Production.
It consists of: Post Video, Post Sound, and Post Animation.
Animation to Video
The technologies used on each of those post production stages are
independent and have been developed on separate times, meaning,
they each have a different process of production and a different output
format. This situation now presents a difficulty, the integration process of
each format to a unified final product is now very complex, expensive and
time consuming. To overcome the incompatibilities of animation
sequences and video formats, we use a conversion process called
rendering. The process input is an animation sequence and its output is a
version of that animation sequence but in a video format. It is important
to add, that once rendered, elements within the animation sequence
cannot be edited.
After rendering is done, the animation sequence, in its video format, can
be imported to the video editing environment and can now be combined
with the original film sequence to produce a final video clip. It is only now
we can assess the final outcome of the clip, and the quality of the
animation produced.
Making it work together
As in every aspect of our life, it is almost impossible to succeed in one
attempt, especially with animations, where the smallest change matters
the most, where precision is crucial and a result less than perfection will
have severe effect on the screen.
Now, after that, suppose the rendered animation is not a 100% fit to the
original video clip, some changes needs to be done to the animation
sequence, since no environment fully integrates video and 3D animation,
work on the animation needs to be redone in an animation software, rerendered, and re-imported to the video editing environment.
This process is done repeatedly until reaching the desirable outcome.
GUI – Timeline
The timeline GUI provides a user friendly interface to work and
manipulate Sound, Video, and 3D animation in the form of channels and
objects.
The GUI interacts with the eQuinox component in order to give the user
the desired functionality.
eQuinox
Basically the core of the system.
It handles the entire GUI requests and provides access to the variety of
engines used in the system.
Moreover, it provides the user a distinct feeling he is using a single
control, while in fact eQuinox component handles the synchronization of
multiple tracks.
Adapters
The software is able to switch engines according to its user requests.
eQuinox should supply the same API regardless of its engine, so, in order
to avoid unwanted changes to eQuinox whenever a new engine is being
used, pre made adapters are built for each desired engine.
Engines
The engines are the processing units for the Video, Audio and Animation.
In fact, each of the above has its own engine to process its related data
and supply with the results. For example, OGRE 3D is being used for 3D
graphics and animation, while Direct Show is being used for Video.
2. Training
2.1 Load Timeline
Go to File in the main toolbar of the eQuinox and select the option “Load”
A new window will open
Select the *.eqx file you want and the loaded timeline will open
Now you can continue working on the loaded timeline.
2.2 Save Timeline
Go to File in the main toolbar of the eQuinox and select the option “Save”
Name the timeline and select “Save”
Now you have your timeline saved for reuse.
2.3 Edit timeline
2.3.1 Add Channel
From an existing timeline project right-click on the timeline and select
“Add Channel”
“Add Audio / Video / Animation Channel”
A new channel is added to your timeline.
2.3.2 Add a Timeline Object
Right-click in a selected Channel and select “Add Object”
Select the object from the new select window (you can only select an
object according to the type of the channel)
The new object will appear in the channel exactly in the point where your
mouse was.
2.3.3 Remove a Channel
Right-click on the selected Channel and select “Remove Track”
The timeline will rephrase and the channel will be removed
2.3.4 Stretches & condense a Timeline Object
When the mouse is over the edges of each channel the cursor changes to
resize mode.
In this mode when left-clicking the mouse we can condense an object
from its original size and then stretch it back
2.3.5 Magnify Timeline
In your timeline environment go to the magnify scale in the bottom right
corner of the eQuinox.
Now you can change the scale to your desired one.
2.4 Play Timeline
In the “Master Timeline Control” press play or use the space button from
the keyboard. The timeline will display from the “Preview Monitor
window”.
3. Reference
4. Limitations
5. Index