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MotionCAD Video Object Help

This page provides help for the  MotionCAD video object.

* Video Play/Analysis 
* Picture sequences
* Key positions
* Synchronized video
* Video Mirroring
* Video Flipping
* Looping Play
* Play Speed    

  

 

 

 

How do I create a video player?

There is several ways to create video players in MotionCAD.  The first is to click on the add video button on the MotionCAD toolbar or click on the menu option File/Add Video. Either will open a video selection window where you can choose which video you want. When you select your video and click OK of the video selection window, a video player will be automatically be created for the video.

The next is to click on the video player tool of the object bar and draw a rectangle on the work area. This is the same operation as any drawing tool, bu tin the case of the Video Player an empty Video object will be created. To select a video for the empty video player, double click anywhere inside the empty player. The double click will trigger a video selection box to popup on the screen.

The thrid way is through the use of MotionCoach templates, please read this section for information on using MotionCoach Templates.

How do I play the video?

To play the video, double click anywhere on the video object (a video must be loaded first). This will display the Video Position Control (VPC) window.  The picture above illustrates a video object with the VCP opened.

The VPC has a play button that if clicked will make the video play at the selected speed. While the video is playing the play button is converted to a STOP button. So to start and stop the video play you simply click on the same button.  

Typically the VPC window pops up in the upper left of the screen. It can be moved anywhere in on the screen.

The VPC has the button to control the playing of the video.

 How do I move only one frame?

To move only one frame at a time, click on the slider position bar of the VPC. You can click and drag the pointer to a new position, the video object will track to the location you select.

Also there are frame forward and backward buttons on the video control panel. One click on these buttons and the video will move one frame in that direction. These buttons are located on either side of the play button.

A final option is to click in the slider bar and use the Keyboard arrow keys to move the video one frame. Page up/down will move the video 10 frames.

If you click and hold either of these buttons down the video will play in that direction. This makes it easy to find the place in the video you want to show the student. 

Can more than one video object be placed on a single document?

Yes. An unlimited number of video objects can be place on a single document.

To quickly add a video object is to use the menu open File/"Add a Video". This option will open a file selection window where the file video file can be specified.

A second way to add videos is first click on the video object of the tool bar (the blue TV on the bottom row). Then click and drag a rectangle on the document. See the " Draw line " page for details on creating objects.

When this is done you will have an empty video object, to tell the object which video file to open double click anywhere in the empty video object or click on the property panel item called "Video File".

This will trigger a standard windows file selection dialog box. Use the file selection box to select the video file. When you have done this click the "Open" button and the video file will opened in the new object.

 What does the "Picture" button do?

The picture button is that button on the control panel with a camera on it. It will create a picture of the current frame of the video object.

Every time the picture button is pressed a number of things occur: 
* A new picture is created.
* The video is advanced one frame.
* The picture is placed to the Right of the last picture.

The picture button can be pressed while the video is playing. This is a fast way to make swing sequences.

What does the "Mirror" check box control?

The Mirror check box will cause the video to do are left/rigth hand flip of the subject.  If you are comparing motions of people with different hands then this the option that to use to match them.

What does the "Flip" check box control?

The Flip check box will cause the video to rotate 90 degress. This is used if the video you have taken used a camera that was flipped to better flip the subject.

The format of video makes the picture wider then it is tall. For most sports activities the subjects are tall and narrow. To fit the subject in you must zoom back and waste much of the picture. By flipping the camera you better fit the subject into the video.

What does the "Loop" check box control?

If the "Loop" check box is not checked the playing video will stop at the end of the video. If the "Loop" check box is checked when the video reaches the end it will return to the first frame in the video and play again. 

What does the "Digital" check box control?

If the "Digital" check box is checked the video will be de-interlaced giving double the frames per second for play-back. The side effect of this is to half the vertical resolution. 

If you play a video and see that it has fuzzy edges or there are two golf clubs, click on this checkbox.

 What does the "Lock" check box control?

If the "Lock" check box is checked the video object will lock its position to any other locked video in the document. This means as you move any locked video all the other locked videos will track to the one moved. 

This is how to do the standard side by side comparison in MotionCAD. First load one video of the student then open the video of the model swing. Move both videos to the impact position and lock them together.

If you have several videos on the screen at the same time and you want to lock them all, then use the button shown below. This button is really fast to use them you have a side by side comparision and the swing tempos are different.

 What are all the blue/gray buttons?

The blue and gray buttons located beside the slider control are the key swing position buttons. This control is actually a group of ten buttons a top row (grey) and lower row (blue).

Basically the top row of button are "Set position" buttons and the lower are "Go to position" buttons.

When you first open a video in MotionCAD the gray buttons will be all "X"s. This means that it's position has not been set. To set the position move the video to the ball impact and then click on the center "X".

As shown above, all the "X"s will change to check marks. The check marks means the position has been set. MotionCAD automatically calculates the frame separation. With the key swing positions set, you can quickly move from top of the back swing to the end of the follow through. 

To reset these positions, just move the video to where you want the position set and click on the upper gray button again. Now if you click on the lower blue button, you will jump directly to that frame.

This is a great tool if you are showing cause and effect of positions during the swing.