Adobe 38040165 - Visual Communicator - PC User Manual Download

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Summary of Contents for 38040165 - Visual Communicator - PC

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Page 2: ...Windows Server are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and or other countries Apple is a trademark of Apple Inc registered in the United States an...

Page 3: ...ia libraries 13 The Coach area 14 The tabbed control panels 14 The Project tab 15 The Director tab 16 The Actions tab 17 The V Screen tab 19 The Setup tab for audio and video 20 The Audio setup button...

Page 4: ...6 Managing projects and media files 49 Best practices for organizing projects and media files 49 Locate and store projects and files 49 Edit project files on a single computer 50 Change the default p...

Page 5: ...Contents 5 Writing a script 55 Chapter 8 Using the Teleprompter 57 Chapter 9 Adding closed captions to a video 61 Chapter 10 Media inputs video effects and external events 67...

Page 6: ...Save a custom title 86 Adding PowerPoint files 86 Video effects transitions and more 87 About types of effects 87 About effect icons 90 Selecting effects 91 Customize an effect 91 Updating an effect...

Page 7: ...from a DV camera 119 Giving a live presentation 119 Manually triggering events 119 Use the Mini Switcher to switch from one camera to another 120 Dynamic editing 121 Chapter 14 Publishing a video 123...

Page 8: ...8 Contents Summary 138 Live streaming 139 Chapter 16 Shortcuts 149 Chapter 17 Glossary 153...

Page 9: ...e Help and of the many resources available to users System requirements on page 9 Install Visual Communicator on page 9 System requirements To review complete system requirements and recommendations f...

Page 10: ...trolled by software called drivers Most device manufacturers release new drivers periodically that can increase performance or fix compatibility issues If your devices work with Visual Communicator yo...

Page 11: ...o from the show If you re in a live video segment that is not yet recorded or have the Setup tab open with Video selected the Output Monitor displays the live feed from the camera When you double clic...

Page 12: ...lso stops any previewing source or effect and returns to the show Teleprompter The area in the top center portion of the interface for the script or outline When you are rehearsing or recording read t...

Page 13: ...as supporting images in the shows This library is also home to the Pop Ups and Text Effects folders which contain special title graphics Audio Audio clips that Visual Communicator includes including T...

Page 14: ...lication you are currently using To display detailed about the current part of the application click Help You can show and hide the Coach area from the Help menu The Visual Communicator Coach area The...

Page 15: ...a style or topic Capture button Opens a control panel through which you can copy a video clip from a tape in the connected camera to your hard drive You can then include the resulting clip in a projec...

Page 16: ...Settings dialog box Alternatively by clicking on the mini camera preview icon you can insert a cut instead of the default effect If you hold down the Ctrl key when you click the icon a dissolve is use...

Page 17: ...ontent file Click an effect image or audio or video file in an action tray to display its properties and controls The controls that you see change depending on the type of media or effect selected The...

Page 18: ...Media inputs video effects and external events on page 67 Trim video and audio clips on page 78 Still Images Video clips...

Page 19: ...of the show by using the Change Background effect Active check box Switches the V Screen effect on and off Input pop up menu Sets which camera you are setting the V Screen options for Each camera has...

Page 20: ...portion of your recorded shows Hardware Level slider and meter Controls the volume level of the currently selected audio input card and affects the volume at which audio is recorded Adjust this level...

Page 21: ...vailable for selecting among them Capture Resolution pop up menu Sets the current video input s resolution in pixels Capture Frame Rate pop up menu Sets the number of frames per second fps at which vi...

Page 22: ...lect all of the camera s automatic settings and adjust them manually Advanced button Opens a dialog box that contains two options The Pause Camera When Offscreen option controls how the data stream is...

Page 23: ...urrent project Save As Opens a dialog box where you can save the current project with a new name Pack and Go Saves a copy of your show and all of its associated media files into a single folder for ea...

Page 24: ...ut Monitor The following table describes the Director commands Review a show on page 114 Recording a show on page 108 Review a show on page 114 Publishing a video on page 123 Most of the commands in t...

Page 25: ...ternet browser to the Playstream home page so you can manage your hosting account such as deleting files upgrading to a better hosting plan etc Link Your Vlog Opens the dialog box through which you dr...

Page 26: ...ngs dialog box The Application Settings dialog box This dialog box which you can open from the Settings menu or by pressing Alt M contains the following options Audio Mixer Displays the standard Windo...

Page 27: ...onds Record Rehearse options 5 second countdown timer appears each time you start rehearsing or recording Jump To Top Of Screen Sets whether the Visual Communicator window is repositioned to the top o...

Page 28: ...ance Settings dialog box which you can open from the Settings menu or by pressing Alt M contains the following options Action Window options Standard options User interface options Preview Output Moni...

Page 29: ...to render your final video during the publishing process Enabling this option requires more processing power and can cause some computers to run more slowly Input options Use Half Resolution Images Du...

Page 30: ...30 Feature and control overview...

Page 31: ...Adobe Visual Communicator 3 By default Visual Communicator opens the wizard If you deselected this option click Wizard on the Project tab On the first screen of the wizard for this tutorial select Cr...

Page 32: ...he Line 1 box and if necessary continue it in the Line 2 field You can change this content later c Select from the three styles for the lower third images The panel on the lower right shows how the im...

Page 33: ...at will be displayed when the camera becomes active 1 Delete the instructional text in the Teleprompter 2 Start typing your script on the line that is level with the action tray that contains the came...

Page 34: ...n you appear on camera start reading your script as it scrolls in the Teleprompter Optional Click Stop to jump back to the point where you started rehearsing and begin again If you want to change wher...

Page 35: ...the show to the default folder with the default file name My_First_Show_ WMV Click Next Select Medium File Size Good Quality as the quality of the video file Choosing this option affects such factors...

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Page 37: ...le with Microsoft DirectShow a Windows Driver Model WDM driver Almost all new webcams are supported by this driver but some older webcams are not Check the manufacturer s website for updated software...

Page 38: ...han webcams Most also have a zoom lens which allows greater flexibility in positioning the camera and greater control over framing the shot Also FireWire camcorders are designed to be plug and play de...

Page 39: ...alog connections If you aren t sure which connection you have see the manual for your camcorder If you have both you can use either connection One advantage of using FireWire is that it s designed to...

Page 40: ...ome tape Webcam secured to top of monitor with tape Camcorders have zoom lenses that allow you to place them further back on the monitor for additional positioning options If your screen resolution is...

Page 41: ...to use from the Input pop up menu If the device is a webcam and it is installed properly with a DirectShow WDM software driver its name appears here If you are using a video capture card an additiona...

Page 42: ...e pop up menu Optional Repeat the process for Camera 3 Remove cameras You can remove a camera at any time Select the camera to remove from the Input pop up menu Select None in the Current Video Input...

Page 43: ...m the Audio Output Method pop up menu Wave Out This method is the default and is compatible with any audio card Occasionally when using a computer with a slower processor this method may cause synchro...

Page 44: ...external microphone use a Y adapter that connects two microphones to one microphone jack Alternatively you can use an audio mixer to combine the microphones for input to one device If you have a sound...

Page 45: ...ed style in the wizard automatically provides a framework of high quality graphical elements If you don t want to use the wizard you can either open a blank new show or open the show you used in the l...

Page 46: ...zard If you always want to go to a blank show when you start the software either deselect Show Wizard At Startup on the wizard s first page or select Start With New Show in the Application Settings di...

Page 47: ...Creating a One Click Video template 47 Your One Click Video template is complete To load the template click the One Click Video icon on your desktop to find the template...

Page 48: ...48 Creating a show...

Page 49: ...dia files to build the program To do this the media files must be where Visual Communicator expects them to be that is in the same place they were when you added them to your show Therefore do not mov...

Page 50: ...ame My Documents Visual Communicator My Projects Click the Projects tab in the Media library located in the lower right section of the Visual Communicator main window In the Address bar browse to the...

Page 51: ...files After you save a project with Pack and Go you can copy the new folder to any computer and open the project file it contains The project opens exactly as it did on the original computer If you a...

Page 52: ...f you saved the project elsewhere select Open on the Project tab or select File Open and then browse to the project folder If the project is one of the last 10 projects you opened select File Recent P...

Page 53: ...ng your show it s a good idea to do some planning Determine the goal of the show Take some time to think about what you want your show to say Develop the message or objective until it s entirely clear...

Page 54: ...member know how exactly his or her contribution fits into the larger project Create a quick sketch of your scenes The images in your show are arguably more important than the words in your script Whe...

Page 55: ...Video delivers information but it s really effective at conveying emotion and a sense of mood Video can have more intellectual and emotional impact than text but to gain this impact you must distill...

Page 56: ...56 Planning shows and writing scripts...

Page 57: ...he Teleprompter is the large area in the top center of the Visual Communicator window that displays a script As you rehearse and record a show the script scrolls up so you can read from the screen You...

Page 58: ...gs Application Settings and then select Hide Preview Monitor Output in the Record Rehearse area This setting applies only while recording not while rehearsing If the text is scrolling too fast or too...

Page 59: ...ss Ctrl Enter This command works regardless of whether the Teleprompter is scrolling or paused It s particularly useful for recording an impromptu show rather than reading a script To scroll down by o...

Page 60: ...roperty of another action When the tray containing the pause effect enters the action bar the show stops scrolling until you press the spacebar or click Resume Select any video effect in the Action wi...

Page 61: ...r text on page 63 Editing captions after you publish a video on page 63 Guidelines for good captions on page 64 Display captions on page 65 About closed captions Closed captions allow people to read a...

Page 62: ...dynamic caption content This lets you use square brackets around regular content for example in a scientific formula If the closing bracket is more than two lines after the opening bracket the text a...

Page 63: ...mpter text As the script passes through the action bar each adjoining pair of lines is parsed into one text block for the caption file To have a text block appear longer than the display time copy and...

Page 64: ...pter Likewise when you manually move one or more action trays the script is not affected Although videos without closed captions may not require realigning the script with action trays doing so for th...

Page 65: ...rol over the appearance of the text but no control over where the caption appears If the captions are too far from the video try resizing the Media Player window In Windows Media Player choose Tools O...

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Page 67: ...es on page 69 Remove a tray on page 70 About action trays Action trays are the containers you use to pair up a media source with the effect that introduces it into the show The effect goes on the left...

Page 68: ...the Actions tray Move trays to adjust timing and reorganize a show You can reposition trays to achieve the desired sequence and timing of events To move a single tray drag it by its tab or frame Drag...

Page 69: ...speed to a comfortable level before adding content and setting the timing of events by moving action trays If you adjust the scroll speed after positioning your trays you will most likely have to repo...

Page 70: ...and select Cut Selected Actions Preview an effect or media input on page 70 Add or change a media file or effect on page 71 Set the default effect on page 71 Double click any icon in the Library windo...

Page 71: ...f the selected icons and drag them to the Action window A tray is created for each selected media file or effect and organized in the same sequence as they appear in the library Drag the icon from its...

Page 72: ...video clip on page 81 Save a DV clip from tape on page 82 Add an audio clip on page 83 About title graphics on page 84 Edit the text in a title on page 85 Customize effects in a title graphic on page...

Page 73: ...add two adjacent trays for the same camera because it affects the transition from the camera to the same camera If you want to transition to the camera with an effect other than the default drop the d...

Page 74: ...or after recording a show add an extremely brief recording by doing the following After the end of the show add a camera tray followed by a Fade To Black Make sure the camera tray is fully below the e...

Page 75: ...include digital photographs scanned images and computer generated 2D and 3D graphics Visual Communicator includes some still images in the Graphics library Visual Communicator supports the following...

Page 76: ...ty of sources including your digital camera without needing to edit them first in a separate image editing application Adjust the orientation of an image 1 Select the image s action tray in the Action...

Page 77: ...of the cropping control Cropping in the Actions tab 5 To preserve the height to width ratio of the original image select Preserve Aspect Ratio 1 Select an image and then click Adjust Color at the bott...

Page 78: ...t being shown The following video formats are supported AVI Audio Video Interleave A Microsoft file format for digital audio and video This format has several forms depending on the codec encoder deco...

Page 79: ...are in the clip the Length reading does not update until you complete the next step 3 To set the current position as the start point click Mark In to set it as the end point click Mark Out You can al...

Page 80: ...becomes the In point when you release the mouse button The indicator next to the clip s icon in the action tray reflects the time of the current frame 3 To trim the end of a clip the Out point pass t...

Page 81: ...ow of any show by dragging it from the Media library You can also trim and save a reference clip directly from the Media library without first adding the source video to the current show Right click t...

Page 82: ...amera or VCR that is connected to your computer When you finish capturing the files are saved to your hard drive and you can browse to them from the Media area and add them to your show 1 On the Proje...

Page 83: ...dia input while a stand alone clip occupies its own tray A dependent clip starts at the same time that the effect in the associated tray runs A stand alone clip continues playing independently from ot...

Page 84: ...nt in the upper left corner The icons indicate this positioning Like title slates they are full frame and opaque so you can pair them with any type of video effect Text slates Lower thirds Appear alon...

Page 85: ...ts for them too Titles lower thirds and text slates are organized in thematic groups in folders in the Styles library These are the same styles that you choose from when you create a show with the New...

Page 86: ...ou have not already done so Click Save As on the Actions tab Specify a name and location for the new title file and click Save The default location is My Documents Adobe Visual Communicator 3 My Outpu...

Page 87: ...ed period and then return to the first source The first type is known as a transition effect the second as a non transition effect To better understand the difference between these two types of effect...

Page 88: ...lling about two thirds of the frame Unlike Over The Shoulder effects Double Boxes do not have built in captions but standard lower thirds work well with them Double Boxes have both transition and non...

Page 89: ...stly transparent tend to look best with a simple Dissolve or Cut effect but you can also get interesting and effective results with many Wipe effects as well as Moves and Slides that have in or on in...

Page 90: ...f or is covered by the B source Push Squeeze and Swap effects Since both sources move in these effects neither symbol is full screen The relationship of the A and B source placeholders is as represent...

Page 91: ...here s also a range of advanced customization options With dual display effects which are unique among Visual Communicator effects in that they have a built in pause time the Pause Time value controls...

Page 92: ...Pro in their names 1 Select the effect s icon in the Action window to open the Actions tab 2 Click Advanced in the Actions tab s lower right corner 3 Select any of the following properties A s Positio...

Page 93: ...t End Opacity With the MegaFlyby effect this option defines the transparency of the B source at the end of the effect End Position With the Pro and MegaFlyby effects this option controls the position...

Page 94: ...Move effects and the Pro versions of spins this option controls the number of spins for the A source A negative value causes the source to spin counterclockwise With the MegaFlyby effect a nonzero spi...

Page 95: ...ed them to a project and you cannot edit an effect outside of Visual Communicator When you install a newer version of the program or upgrade you may find updated effects or additional advanced setting...

Page 96: ...e added to an existing tray The difference is that adding a web link to another tray synchronizes the media transition and the linked event whereas putting it in its own tray lets you time the linked...

Page 97: ...menu 3 Enter the caption text in the Text box A caption remains until another caption replaces it To clear a caption without replacing it with other text add a second web link set it as a caption and...

Page 98: ...ions dialog box If you are proficient with HTML you can add custom scripting directly through Visual Communicator 1 Select the web link icon in an action tray 2 In the Actions tab select Enter Custom...

Page 99: ...camera to make adjustments To find the location of the automatic gain white balance exposure and iris controls see the camera manual Some camcorders allow you to lock or hold all automatic settings w...

Page 100: ...kground color or change images on page 101 Change backgrounds in a show on page 102 About backgrounds You can use any image as a background Visual Communicator includes a set of background images in t...

Page 101: ...iated colors throughout and the basic RGB sliders to affect only pixels that contain some of the given color RGB sliders These adjustments affect only the initial background image If you change backgr...

Page 102: ...o use blue such as a royal blue or Pantone Proc C The surface of the green or blue backdrop should be evenly colored and not shiny Consider the following options for creating a backdrop A green or blu...

Page 103: ...hem separately by first switching among the cameras from the Input field and then repeating steps 1 and 2 When the key is set keep the camera position lighting and any shadows falling on the backdrop...

Page 104: ...justing the Start Level Move the slider until most of the blue or green color is keyed out and only a slight halo of blue or green surrounds the subject 7 Adjust the Desaturation until the remaining g...

Page 105: ...d action trays start to scroll up As each action tray moves through the pink action bar you see the actions take place in the Output Monitor Read the lines of the script as they pass through the actio...

Page 106: ...and reorganize a show on page 68 Work on delivery It s a good idea to rehearse each show a few times before you start to record Focus on the following aspects of your delivery Speak at a comfortable...

Page 107: ...ngs Before you record turn the audio Output Volume down on the Setup tab so you don t get feedback from the speakers through the microphone Click Setup and then select Audio Drag the Output Volume sli...

Page 108: ...by frame basis When you review and publish the show Visual Communicator pieces together the latest version of each frame When recording keep the following in mind If any segments are not recorded whe...

Page 109: ...ing to get the audio to flow smoothly Even a brief pause at the right spot helps Scroll the show so that the point to start recording is in the action bar Click Record When you ve finished the segment...

Page 110: ...g is In some situations you might want to start or stop recording at the beginning of the selected transition and other times you might want to start or stop recording a segment at the end of the effe...

Page 111: ...you prefer to rehearse or record a show spontaneously rather than reading from the Teleprompter you probably want to trigger effects manually rather than having them triggered as they pass through the...

Page 112: ...the one time altering action that cannot be resolved by moving action trays You can change the scroll speed after recording but doing so can cause timing problems Try to set the scroll speed to a com...

Page 113: ...am input or 5 seconds of full resolution DV input The Clear Recordings feature deletes all audio and video files recorded for the current project You might want to clear recordings if the following oc...

Page 114: ...o the beginning of the show The review starts from your current position in the show that is the point in the show corresponding to the position of the action bar Click Review which is centered below...

Page 115: ...d starts scrubbing recorded content if any exists Reviewing a show Whenever your show is paused you can save the current frame as a JPEG image file Visual Communicator saves the contents of the Output...

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Page 117: ...on page 117 Set your microphone to be live on page 118 Set up an audio or video loop on page 119 Set up live video from a DV camera on page 119 First set up the second device in the operating system a...

Page 118: ...section If the correct display device does not show in the Output Monitor field select it from the pop up menu Select the desired resolution from the Resolution pop up menu Outputting at higher resol...

Page 119: ...Cameras After your live presentation reselect this option to improve performance Giving a live presentation Manually triggering events on page 119 Use the Mini Switcher to switch from one camera to an...

Page 120: ...time altering actions it leaves Teleprompter text untouched If you altered event timing you might want to realign your text with the action sequence after you stop recording a segment Click in the Tel...

Page 121: ...e show and transitions to it when it moves into the action bar If you re working with the show paused a video clip plays in its entirety regardless of whether the whole clip fits before the next tray...

Page 122: ...122 Presenting live shows...

Page 123: ...e 124 Setting file and account information on page 127 Publishing to web pages on page 124 Publish to DV tape on page 126 Publish a video To start the Video Publisher wizard click Publish and select o...

Page 124: ...wizard below or by choosing Hosting Manage Account 1 Click the Publish tab and then select Publish Video and Thumbnail to Hosting Provider 2 Click Account Info to enter your existing streaming accoun...

Page 125: ...to select the desired style Page Layout Sets the number and arrangement of frames in the web page The thumbnail diagram on the left shows the currently selected layout The word Chapters in this diagra...

Page 126: ...your finished shows to DV tape a copy is also saved to your hard drive in Output My Published Shows The DV device must be connected to your computer through a FireWire IEEE 1394 port If the DV device...

Page 127: ...gh the firewall on page 131 Set the destination path for output files on page 131 The file type you choose dictates the type of player used to view your video There are four options FLV The compressed...

Page 128: ...the desired folder The default file name for the output file is the same as the project s name with the appropriate extension appended flv avi wmv or rm To change the name click in the box and type t...

Page 129: ...ish to a server 2 Enter the FTP address in the Host Name box and your user name and password in the appropriate boxes Depending on the host you might also have to specify the Remote Path which specifi...

Page 130: ...log box will not be accessible until you republish the video 2 Click more options and select one of the following vlog link options Popup Player with Thumbnail default Adds a thumbnail that is a link...

Page 131: ...ng it indiscriminately Talk to your network administrator or consult the documentation for your router or firewall software The final video product is a compressed file called the output file The defa...

Page 132: ...d in the case of the Internet the targeted bandwidth Set one of the following options Small File Size Lower Quality Use for videos downloaded over dial up connections Medium File Size Good Quality Use...

Page 133: ...the publisher encodes WMV files by using the Windows Media Encoder 9 While most users can view videos created by using WME 9 more people can view a video by using WME 8 On balance you lose some image...

Page 134: ...ght affect your audience Specifying high bit rate video with correspondingly large video size and high frame rates creates better quality video but also results in a larger video stream that requires...

Page 135: ...l of quality throughout playback When you create a RealVideo clip you can choose constant bit rate CBR or variable bit rate VBR encoding CBR encoding is the more traditional method of encoding streami...

Page 136: ...but the highest possible image quality Use Slide Show if you have a large video 320 by 240 or larger Optionally you can resize the video to a smaller size when streaming at low bandwidths Video Size S...

Page 137: ...ssed RGB video and uncompressed PCM audio DV Type 1 and DV Type 2 Options are available when a DV codec is specified in the Video codec menu A DV stream consists of audio and video interleaved DV Type...

Page 138: ...mains visible unless you chose to upload the video to a server on the Internet If you are uploading to a server the upload process starts and the progress bar starts over The speed of rendering depend...

Page 139: ...of the computers are on the same side of the firewall port to port streaming is not subject to the same security concerns Push streaming A computer initiates the connection with a server This method...

Page 140: ...ation of output settings the type of video card and the range of other tasks running on the computer The minimum system requirements are 2 4 GHz Intel Pentium 4 processor or equivalent Microsoft Windo...

Page 141: ...an account with a streaming service provider To stream a show over the web without a streaming server sign up for an account with a streaming service provider Search the web for streaming service prov...

Page 142: ...Flash Media Server Windows Media or RealPlayer A key property to set in both cases is whether your video will be pushed or pulled In the main menu bar select Settings Live Streaming Settings and then...

Page 143: ...FLV stream If you selected a pre configured streaming setting these fields will be populated with video encoding settings appropriate to the target bandwidth over which you re streaming The encoding s...

Page 144: ...s with the information that your streaming service provides c If required enter your user name and password in the appropriate boxes 3 In the Server Pull Method section a Click Enable Pull Streaming b...

Page 145: ...tically selected when you select live streaming If you have problems with audio check that Pass Thru To Speakers is still selected when you stream Selecting Pass Thru To Speakers With a streaming prof...

Page 146: ...d enter the URL for your show The format of the URL varies depending on the streaming method FLV streaming Obtain the URL from your Flash Media Server administrator or from the hosting service Push st...

Page 147: ...If your video is not streaming check the status of the Live Streaming Status light Status Light color Problem Solution...

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Page 149: ...Undo last action Ctrl Z Redo last action that was undone Ctrl Y Cut selected content to the clipboard Ctrl X Copy selected content to the clipboard Ctrl C Paste content from the clipboard Ctrl V Sele...

Page 150: ...Esc Pause Resume Ctrl Space bar Next Effect Ctrl Enter Advance Alt A End Effect Alt Z Application Settings Alt M Performance Settings Ctrl F Camera Properties Alt C Enable V Screen Alt V Auto Select...

Page 151: ...o Mixer F9 Launch Advanced Titles F10 Help Menu Alt H Visual Communicator Help F1 Check for Update Alt H U About Visual Communicator Ctrl Shift A Action trays Move selected trays and all trays below i...

Page 152: ...152 Shortcuts...

Page 153: ...153 17 CHAPTER 17 Glossary...

Page 154: ...154 Glossary...

Page 155: ...155...

Page 156: ...156 Glossary...

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