This chapter contains these sections:
This appendix describes the Video Control Panel that appears on an Indigo workstation or on an Indigo workstation with Indigo Video.
If you are working on an Indy workstation, an Indigo workstation with Galileo Video, or an Indigo2 workstation with Galileo Video or Indigo2 Video, see Chapter 1, “Video Panel.”
To display video on your workstation screen, you must connect the video equipment and set the software to recognize it.
Connect the video equipment to the video input and output ports on the back of your Indigo workstation.
See the IRIS Indigo Video™ Board Installation Guide for instructions.
From the Options menu choose “Change Source Attributes...”
The Change Source Attributes form appears. See Figure A-1.
Note: Midway down the Video Control Panel, note the label “Source” followed by three buttons. Each button represents an input port on the back of the workstation. The three video input ports are assigned names. You can change the names to match your configuration. See “Renaming a Video Source” .
For each piece of video equipment, click the button for either NTSC or PAL.
As a guideline: video equipment in the United States uses the NTSC standard. If you are unsure which option to choose, check the documentation that came with your video equipment.
Check the back of the workstation to see whether the cable is plugged into the Composite or S-video input port.
Click the Composite or S-video button on the form.
Click the Accept button when you are finished.
The Video Control Panel is split into three main regions, as shown in Figure A-2.
The top region contains the Monitor control and a small window. The window allows you to view the video coming in from the equipment attached to your workstation.
The middle region contains controls. Use these controls to grab frames of video and turn them into images, and to select an input source.
The bottom region contains buttons and dials that let you adjust the video display.
You can adjust the hue, color, and dithering of the video display using the Video Control Panel.
To adjust the hue, press the left mouse button over the button labeled “Hue.” Continue pressing the mouse button and twist it to the right and left to change the values. Move the cursor away from the dial to fine-tune the setting.
To change the display to black and white, click the button next to “Black & White.” A red checkmark appears in the box and the display changes. To revert to a color display, click the box again; the checkmark disappears.
To turn dithering on and off, click the button next to “Dither.” Dithering removes irregularities in the display. A red checkmark appears when dithering is enabled.
| Note: A Video Pro Panel lets experienced users fine-tune the video signal. See “Opening the Video Pro Panel”. |
The Video Pro Panel lets experienced users fine-tune the video signal. To get to the Pro Panel, pull down the Utilities menu and choose “Video Pro Panel.”
Click the Help button at the bottom of the Video Pro Panel for instructions on using the controls that the panel provides.
You can use the Video Control Panel to record an images from your workstation screen. To do so, you must have an IRIS IndigoVideo board installed in and video equipment connected to your workstation. See the IRIS IndigoVideo Board Installation Guide for details.
Open a video output window.
From the Utilities menu, choose “Live Video Output...”
Position the outline where you want the window to appear, then click the left mouse button. The window appears along with a red window outline.
Move the window with the red outline so that it encloses the area of the screen that you want to send to video. (To move the window, place the cursor on the red border, then press the left mouse button and drag.)
Note: You can not resize the video output window. Place the cursor over the window, then press the right mouse button.
Select “Send Screen” from the pop-up menu that appears. See also “Commands on the Live Video Output Window Menu.”
Turn on the video equipment to record or broadcast the video signal.
Midway down the Video Control Panel, you see the label “Source” followed by three buttons. Each button represents an input port on the back of the workstation. By default, the three video input port buttons are assigned these names:
1: Camera
2: VCR 1
3: VCR 2
You can change the names of the sources. Suppose you decide to plug a VCR into port 1 and a Sony camera into port 2.
From the Options menu choose “Change Source Attributes...” The window shown in Figure A-1 appears.
Select the text in field 1 and type:
VCR
Select the text in field 2 and type:
Sony Camera
Click the Accept button. The window disappears; the Video Control Panel now shows the new names.
“Recording Video” describes how to open a live video output window and choose the “Send Screen” command from the pop-up menu. This section lists the other options on the pop-up menu.
Table A-1. Commands on the Live Video Output Window Menu
Command | Description |
|---|---|
“Send Screen” | Choose this option to record something from the graphics monitor. |
“Send Black” | Choose this option to send black out to video. |
“Send Color Bars” | Choose this option to send color bars out to video. Color bars are used for color calibration. |
“Filter Video Output” | Choose this option to filter the video signal. Filtering improves the quality of certain images. As a general rule, filtering improves images that are shaded. You need to experiment to see whether it improves the video you are creating. |
“Quit” | Choose this option to close the Live Video Output window. |
You can grab a frame of video and turn it into an image. Use the “Set Grab Frame Filename...” command and the Freeze and Grab Frame buttons on the Video Control Panel.
From the Options menu choose “Set Grab Frame Filename...” A File Browser appears.
Move to the directory where you want the image stored.
Type in name for the image and press the Accept button.
If you don't specify a filename, the image is saved as out.rgb.
To grab a sequence of frames, on the File Browser click the “Auto-increment” button. Auto-increment appends a number to the specified filename; each time you grab a frame of video, it adds 1 to the number. For example, you get filenames such as out.rgb.000, out.rgb.001, and out.rgb.002.
Click the Freeze button to freeze the video on the frame you want to save. This step is also optional; you can grab a frame of video without freezing it first.
Click the Grab Frame button. The cursor turns into a watch. It returns to its original shape when the frame has been saved.
You must have an IRIS IndigoVideo board installed in and video equipment connected to your Indigo workstation. See the IRIS IndigoVideo Board Installation Guide for details.
To display video on your workstation screen, follow these steps:
Select the device you want to use as the source—that is, the device that contains or generates the video you want to display.
Midway down the Video Control Pane,l identify the label Source followed by three buttons, one for each input port on the back of the workstation.
Click the button next to the device you want to use. A blue triangle appears next to the source you have selected.
Open a video input window.
From the Utilities menu, choose “Live Video Input...” The outline of a window appears.
Position the outline where you want the window to appear, then click the left mouse button.
Note: You can have only one video input window on an Indigo workstation. Use the controls on your camera or VCR to play and stop the video in that window.
For information about the different command line tools you can use to display and save video, see Chapter 2, Video Panel, “Using the Command Line Tools To Output and Save Video Frames”.
See Chapter 2, Video Panel, “Troubleshooting Problems with Video”.