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Importing
Media
 How
do I output my project to a TV, VCR or other non-DV video source?
Does
MediaWorks support DV capturing and exporting?
How
do I reduce the file size of my captured DV video?
What
is the best strategy for including large video clips in my project?
What
products allow me to capture video from analog video sources
(VCR, camcorder, laserdisc, tv)?
How
do I resize my video to a specific size?
How
do I make a DVD that will play in a consumer DVD player?
Compression
Answers:
How
is MediaWorks Different?
Interactive
presentations created in MediaWorks are for the most
part played back through the use of the free, cross platform
QuickTime engine (included) leading to very high-quality results
and perfect synchronization. You can also create custom playback
controls (Play, Stop, Rewind, Quit/Exit) to match the theme
of your presentation, and link to web pages and any external
files.
In
addition to high-quality interactive presentations, MediaWorks
also allows the creation of different kinds of movies than
may be created in products like iMovie, iPhoto and MovieMaker
without the learning curve and expense of Final Cut Pro, Flash
and Adobe Premiere.
-
Creative
Screen Composition - iMovie, iPhoto and MovieMaker are
great if you just want to create a production that goes
from video or picture A to video or picture B, but they
do not allow for creative screen compostion and unlimited
object compositing like this Family
Wedding Anniversary movie that was created in MediaWorks.
Positioning objects in MediaWorks is fast and easy with
its object-oriented design and alignment tools.
-
Precise
Timing - Most consumer slide show programs do not allow
for precise timing where pictures or text/titling changes
may be easily set to change at a particular instance in
a music track or narration. MediaWorks allows you to set
markers in your music or narration track and easily link
picture or text changes to these markers. Here is a great
example!
-
Unlimited
Object Overlays - overlay any number of picture, animation,
text, narration, music or video tracks. Here is an example
created by elementary school students with a video overlay
explaining the results of a Math
research project.
-
Rendering
Not Required - some movie editing products require everything
to be converted to the DV format while editing. This rendering
takes time and leads to large files. This is fine if your
final product will be a DVD, but for creating movies to
be included in a presentation, uploaded to a web page or
played on an iPod Video, rendering to DV costs you time
and money (for the mass storage you will need - especially
in the classroom where multiple students use the same computer).
MediaWorks just leaves the objects in the native format
and allows for rendering to the DV format only if output
to DVD is desired.
How can I get the best
results scanning my pictures?
You
should scan at a resolution of at least 144 dpi if you plan to
resize or zoom/crop your picture to a larger size. After resizing,
we recommend saving in PICT, TIFF, BMP or JPEG format, 72 dpi.
JPEG is a "lossy" compressor and will result in some
degradation of image quality.
When
should I render my scene?
Rendering
in Author combines all visible objects in a scene into one video
track and is mandatory for scenes including path animations.
Rendering may also improve playback quality on certain scenes
by combining all visible object into one Video track and is
especially recommended for productions including sequenced large
video clips. Rendering within MediaWorks Author does not affect
sound tracks. However, rendering during "exporting"
from MediaWorks Video or Author will combine the sound tracks
as well.
How
can I fix choppy playback?
Choppy
playback means you are overwhelming your computer. To fix
this problem, reduce the size of your project and/or movies,
and/or lower the Scene Attributes Frames/Second (FPS). Rendering
may also improve playback in some instances by combining all
visible objects into one Video track. You will have to experiment
to determine the maximum Render Region and FPS your computer
can handle. Also, changing the the compressor used for either
the audio and/or video may help. Best to run some small experiments
to determine what combination of variables (size, FPS, compressors),
will achieve the best results.
What
compressor should I use for:
Narration:
Qualcomm PureVoice or MPEG-4
Advanced Audio Coding (AAC)
Music:
QDesign or MPEG-4
Advanced Audio Coding (AAC)
Photos:
JPEG
Video:
Sorenson, MPEG-4,
H264
(QuickTime 7 only) or Intel Indeo 4.5 or better.
Animation:
Animation or Sorenson
What
is a Key Frame?
A
Key Frame is the frame where all the informations is saved during
rendering. For video, it is recommended that there is a Key
Frame every 24 frames. For slide shows, there should be a key
frame every 100 frames. The higher the Key Frame number, the
smaller the file size. These Key Frame settings are just recomendations
and you should experiment for best results in quality verses
file size.
How
do I change the vertical order of timebars in the Sequencer
window?
Use
the View by Time option in the Sequencer window or link objects
together using the Links menu option in the Object menu.
How
do I resize my video to a specific size?
1) Open the movie in MediaWorks Video, and choose File-Export.
2)
Select "Movie to QuickTime Movie" in the pop-down menu at the
bottom of the dialog.
3) Click Options button and choose the desired compression.
4) Click the Size button and enter the desired dimensions.
5) Save your movie.
How
do I output my project to a TV, VCR or other non-DV video source?
If
you have the appropriate hardware, just connect the video out
connector to a video recording source, press Record and play
your project. Your project will be "printed to video"
exactly as it appears on your screen. With some video out hardware,
you will lose up to a half an inch around your border, so plan
your project accordingly.
Mac
& Win - ADS
Technologies, Focus
Enhancements
How
do I import a PowerPoint presentation?
Open
your PowerPoint presentation and select Save As from the File
menu. From the Save As dialog dropdown menu, choose PICT, BMP
or JPEG (formats supported by QuickTime). Click the Options...
button and check the "Save every slide (series of graphic
files)" option. Click OK and then click Save. Every slide
will be saved with a numeric extension into your designated
folder. This folder of slides can then be easily imported into
MediaWorks. Use the Picture preferences in MediaWorks Author
to set a particular size of the imported slides or pictures.
In the latest version of PowerPoint, you can also export your
slideshow as a QuickTime movie and import it into MediaWorks.
Does
MediaWorks support DV capturing and exporting?
Yes.
Set your document size to 720 x 480 (NTSC - North America) or
720 x 576 (PAL - International). If you use transitions, you
must render your scene before exporting to DV. Any scene may
be exported directly to a DV camcorder using the Scene-Export-DV
command, or as a .dv file which may be burned to a DVD using
the Scene-Export-QuickTime-Rendered command. Select "Movie
to DV Stream" from the File Type export menu. Import the
resulting .dv file into any DVD authoring program for burning.
How
do I reduce the file size of my captured video?
Unless
you will be exporting your video back to a DV camcorder, or
importing it into a DVD authoring program, you should always
post compress your clips after capturing with MediaWorks Video.
1) Choose Export from Video's File menu.
2) Choose the desired format in the pop-down menu in the dialog
(Movie to QuickTime Movie, AVI, iPod, MPEG-4 or 3G).
3) Click the Options button to bring up a 2nd dialog to set
the other options.
Recommend Sorenson 3 or H264
(QuickTime 7 required) as the compressor, Frames/Second
set to Best, Quality to Medium or better, Key Frame set to 24,
and do not limit the data rate.
4) Click Size
button and set to desired size.
5) Check the Sound checkbox in 1st dialog or your audio will
be omitted when exported. Choose compression options if desired.
See
next FAQ item for recommendations on the best strategy for including
video in a project.
What
is the best strategy for including large video clips in my project?
We do not recommend using MediaWorks Video's "Send Movie
to Author" function for large video clips. The following
procedure is recommended:
1) Save or export movies from Video to a sub-folder called "Movies"
in the project folder.
2) Quit or Exit Video.
3) Drag and drop or import movies into Author.
4) When saving in Author, answer "No" to the "Do you want to
copy imported movies?" question.
This will make a "pointer" to the source movie files and lead
to smaller MediaWorks' projects and much faster save times.
When
exporting or making a player document from Author, all movie
files are gathered and automatically and included.
How
can I make a DVD that will play in a consumer DVD player?
While MediaWorks Author is not a DVD authoring program, you
can export any scene as a DV file which may be burned to DVD
by choosing Scene-Export-DV (DVD burning software required).
For best results, the project document size should be set to
720 x 480 (NTSC - North America) or 720 x 576 (PAL - International)
before beginning your project.
What
file types can MediaWorks import?
All
files supported by QuickTime.
Video
- AVI, MOV, DV, MPEG-1, MPEG-2 (QuickTime MPEG-2
plug-in required), MPEG-4
Photos
- PICT, BMP, GIF, JPEG, JFIF, Photoshop, PNG, Targa, TIFF
Sound
- AIFF, SND, music CD, Karaoke, MIDI, MP3, WAV, AAC
Animation
- PICS, Flash, animated GIF
Virtual
Reality - VR
Text
- txt (Notepad or SimpleText)
Note:
You must use the Import Movie command to import - Karaoke,
MP3, WAV, music CD, Flash and animated GIF's
How do I share a multi-scene or interactive
project on a CD or computer DVD?
Player
applications is available for both Macintosh and Windows and
may be freely distributed. The Player application is only required
if your project includes buttons
or includes more than one scene. If your project does not include
more than one scene or buttons, see instructions
below. The
latest Player applications may be downloaded from MediaWorks
Download page. The Windows Player opens Windows-built and
Mac-built Player documents and runs under Win98 or above. The
Macintosh Player opens only Mac Classic and Mac OS X
Player documents. The Macintosh Player works under Mac OS 8.6
or higher or Mac OS X 10.1 or higher.
For
Windows, choose Make Player from the File menu and check
the "Share on CD or Computer DVD " option in the dialog.
This creates a folder called "Distribution" containing
your project saved as a Player document, the Player application,
and the autorun.inf file. Burn these three files to CD or computer
DVD.
For
Macintosh, choose Make Player from the File menu and check
the "Share on CD or Computer DVD " option in the Maker
Player dialog. A folder will be created inside the folder where
your project file is saved (default) called "Distribution",
containing your project saved as a Player document, the Macintosh
Player application, the Windows Player application, and the
Windows autorun.inf file. Burn these four files to a CD or computer
DVD. Some burning software like Toast will allow you to make
a Mac/Win partitioned CD or DVD where only the files for that
platform will appear.
Mac
OS X does not support autorun. The
Windows autorun.inf file will cause your Player file to automatically
launch when inserted into a CD or DVD drive on Windows. For
Win98 support, its file name can be no more the 7 characters,
plus the '.plr' extension, and there can be no spaces in the
name. Do not change the name of the Player document once the
autorun file is created.
How do I share a single-scene, non-interactive project?
Export
the Scene as a QuickTime, AVI, iPod, DV, MPEG-4
or 3GP movie
file using the Scene-Export menu option. For
the Windows version, MPEG-4 and 3GP files do not include their
sound files due to audio licensing issues in Windows. You can
export your scene as a rendered or unrendered file from MediaWorks
Author and then open in QuickTime
Player Pro for exporting to these formats with sounds included.
How
do I ensure proper font display when I send my project to others?
Before
exporting a scene as a movie or making a .plr file, check Burnt
in the Attributes for your text objects which will convert it
to a graphic on for playback. You can also set this as a style
preference by choosing Edit Formats in the Text menu. If you
apply the burnt text option to pure-white text, the text object
will disappear (becomes fully transparent). To remedy this,
you need to set the text color to off-white before applying
the burnt text option. You do not need to burn text on scenes
that will be rendered as rendering burns all text automatically!
Is
QuickTime required to play interactive projects?
Yes,
it must be installed on any computer that you want to run
a MediaWorks Player (.plr) document. You can set the minimum
version of QuickTime that is required to run your project
in the Make Player dialog box. If the minimum condition is
not met, the MediaWorks Player application searches for the
QuickTime standalone installer on your CD or DVD first, and
launches it if found. The QuickTime standalone installer must
be at the same level on your CD or DVD as your Player file,
or in a folder called "QT", or it will not be found
by the MediaWorks Player applications. If the QuickTime standalone
installer is not found, the MediaWorks Player application
will go to the standard QuickTime Download page online.
QuickTime
Installers for both Macintosh and Windows may be licensed
from Apple Computer for free, and easily included on your
CD or computer DVD.
How do I reset the Windows Registry entries for MediaWorks?
Removing the Windows Registry entries for MediaWorks resets
the program to its default settings.
1. Choose Run from the Start menu
2.
In the "Open" text field, type in: regedit
3.
In the left window of the Registry Editor, click the plus
sign next to "HKEY_CURRENT_USER"
4.
In the expanded list, click the plus sign next to "Software"
5.
Locate the folder named "Interactive Solutions"
and click once on the folder name to highlight it
6.
Press the DELETE key, or select Edit-Delete from the Registry
Editor main menu
7.
Close the Registry Editor and restart your computer
Reinstall
MediaWorks from your program CD.
How do I get my autorun.inf file to work?
The
Player document name can be no more the 7 characters plus the
'.plr' extension. Also there can be no spaces in the name and
you cannot change the name of the Player document once the autorun
file is created. The file must be saved as a plain text document.
Sounds
are not included when I export to iPod, MPEG-4 or 3GP?
iPod
(.m4v), MPEG-4 and 3GP files exported from MediaWorks do not
include their sound files due to audio licensing issues in Windows.
You can export your scene as a rendered or unrendered file from
MediaWorks and then open in QuickTime
Player Pro for exporting to these formats with sounds included.
I'm
having trouble importing tracks from a music CD in Windows?
You
need to update your ASPI
drivers.
Do I always have to start at the beginning
to preview my project?
No.
You can preview your project from any point in time by clicking
and dragging the blue 'down-pointing' arrow at the top of the
Sequencer window to the desired start time, or using the slider
on the Play Controls. Hold the SHIFT key and press play on the
playback controller. Press the ESCAPE key to return to the Project
window.
How do I import text into my project?
You
can import text from other programs by saving the file as
"text-only". Notepad on Windows and SimpleText files
on Macintosh can be imported or dragged directly into a Scene.
My
URL and/or Doc links are not working?
If
your scene is rendered, you must set URL and Doc links from
button objects rather than text objects.
How
do I edit an MP3 or MIDI file?
Open
the Sequencer, select the MP3 or MIDI file and select Object-Open
Editor. This will open the file in the Video editor where you
may select a segment and delete it or copy and past it to a
new document. Then, select Send to Author from the file menu.
Editing MP3 or MIDI files in the Sound editor is not currently
supported unless they are converted to an editable format like
.aif or .wav. This can be done using the File-Export option
in Video. Choose Sound to AIFF in the menu in the Export dialog.
How
do I get my Windows-built project to play on a Macintosh computer?
Player
documents built on Windows
(.plr files) can
only be played on Windows. Player documents built on Macintosh
can be played on both Macintosh and Windows. Scenes can be
exported as QuickTime movies which will play across platforms.
To convert your Windows Player document to run on Macintosh:
1. Export each Scene as a QuickTime movie
2.
Transfer the movies (and button images) to a Macintosh
3.
Launch MediaWorks for Macintosh and import the movies
4.
Rebuild your button and text links
5.
Select File-Make Player to create a new Player document
Why
doesn't my color gradient always fill the entire screen?
Drag
short lines (less than an inch) when using Paint Bucket gradient
feature. If you drag too long of a line, a corner of the screen
will not be filled with the gradient effect. To remedy this, either
select Edit-Undo and drag a short line or click the Paint Bucket
in the corner region to fill it with the selected color.
How
do I make an invisible/transparent button?
Select
Object-New-Button or click the Button Tool icon on the Main
Tools palette. This launches MediaWorks' Paint. Click the pencil
tool and choose off-white (lightest gray) as the pencil color.
You can also choose a color that matches the background color
or image of your Scene. Paint four dots that represent the four
corners of your button. Select File-Send To-MediaWorks. With
the button still highlighted, select Object-Attributes and choose
"White Transparency" from the Graphics Mode dropdown
menu. You now have an invisible/transparent button. |
