Bringing in Image & Video Media into the XR Studio

February 09, 2025 16:47

Overview

This article will go over how to bring over image and video content from the workstations into the XR Studio, then mapping it onto the LED wall or the Quasar pixel-mappable LED lights.

From Workstation into the Studio

Find or create your desired image/video content, that you are looking to map in the XR Studio.
Make sure your image/video is of a supported format in Disguise Designer. For example, Video files should be an .mov encoded in a Quicktime-based codec. Refer to the linked article for Disguise-supported file formats for more information.
- Feel free to use Adobe Media encoder to re-encode your file into a supported format/codec. A basic recommendation would be the Quicktime format using the Apple ProRes 422 preset.
Be aware of which active Disguise Designer project is running or will be running on the Director Media server. This will inform you of which project file you will need to drop off your media files into, in the D3_General folder on the EML-XR-NAS.
- EML-XR-NAS = Emerging Media Lab (EML) - Extended Reality (XR) - Network Attached Storage (NAS)
Open the EML-XR-NAS directory either using the desktop shortcut or entering '\\eml-xr-nas.emerson.edu into the Windows Run command, windows search bar, or file address bar.
Go into D3_General and find the corresponding Disguise project folder. Inside of the Disguise project folder, for Video and Image content, they should go into objects/VideoFile. It is recommended that you create sub-directories to make sorting & finding your content in Disguise Designer easier. In this case, I have made a folder titled ExampleMedia.
Drop off your media into the corresponding project's VideoFile folder (or other folder, if you are bringing in a different kind of supported media into Disguise).
- The D3_General folder is a literal mirror of the d3 projects directory that lives on the two disguise Media servers (Director & Actor). Media files (i.e. images, videos, meshes) must be copied into the corresponding internal project folder on all Media servers.
- By dropping off your files into the project folder, held on the NAS's D3_General folder, those files will be automatically synced across all media servers. If this does not occur, please see a faculty member or EML staff member for assistance.
Remote onto the Director server, either using the KVM on the XR Operator's Station or using Parsec on an EML student workstation.
- Reminder: the keyboard shortcut for the KVM is [Ctrl] + [Alt] + [C].
- Additionally, if you are logged in on the Teacher's Station computer, and have the Streamdeck shortcuts loaded via Companion, you will have one-button shortcuts to switch the active KVM output.
- Otherwise, you can also use Parsec as the software alternative for remote control access, on the other workstations.
On the Director, make sure the corresponding Disguise project is running. If not, launch d3manager off the desktop.
Upon launching d3manager the project launcher/manager window will open. Find the folder for your disguise project, expand the folder and double-click on the project file. We will be opening EML_General in this example.
Once the disguise project has opened, be sure to check that both the Director and Actor servers are online and syncing. Check the bottom right corner, you should see two green numbers, representing the currently synced framerate (23.97, in this case though rounded up to 24).
- For further detail, find the small Session indicator, with three icons (all of which should be green).
- Expand the Session indicator, and you can check the status of both Media servers and if they are Online, Genlocked, and Frame-locked.
Make sure you are not Faded down. Either click the flashing red dropdown on the right edge of the top navigation bar in Disguise Designer, and select Fade up. Alternatively, press [Backspace] as the keyboard shortcut.
Go to your desired track or create a new one by clicking on Track on the top navigation bar, typing in a name, then pressing OK or [Enter].
On your currently active track, left-click on the tick-marks of your timeline to set where you would like to create your layer, then right-click on the timeline. The white blinking marker indicates your current location on the timeline.
Upon right-clicking, a dropdown will appear above where you clicked on the timeline. At the top, you can name the layer next to New Layer.
- While there isn’t a hard requirement in regards to naming conventions, it’s recommended to provide an informative name. In this case, the layer has been named with the intended kind of content that it will drive, where it would be mapped to, the person to whom it “belongs” to, and a brief content description.
Once the layer's named, press OK or [Enter] on your keyboard. From here a dropdown listing available layer types will appear. For videos and images, you will likely use a Video layer.
With the layer type selected, your new layer will appear on the timeline and a properties panel will open on the top left, allowing you to configure your layer.
Assuming your content has synced correctly, and is of a supported format, it should appear according to its file name and location in the currently active disguise project. In this example, I will be selecting the coniferouspineforest.jpg file placed in a folder titled examplemedia inside of VideoFile. Despite it technically not being a video, you will still need to use a Video layer (and ensure your images are placed inside of the disguise project’s VideoFile directory). Select your image or video as the active media for the current Video layer.
Afterwards, you want to make sure that your content is being mapped to the correct surface, and is treated correctly. In this case, the forest video is mapped as an outer frustum (emerson_outer target). While it seems to work, this mapping relies on where the disguise project’s virtual outer camera is presently located and its faced direction. The content is mapped using a spatial mapping, which bears in mind 3D space with the way content is handled. For example, if you want the backdrop to follow where the camera is looking at, this would call for a spatial map. For our purposes, we would want to directly map the content to the wall using a Direct map.
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Click on Mapping, on the top of the new window click on the Direct tab. From here, we want to map directly to the wall. Select wall (direct).
You should now see your image/media being output to the wall!
If you would like to map your video/image to the Quasar LED strips, use the quasar both mapping. If you would like to separately map to the individual left or right Quasar, use quasar l or quasar r respectively.
Finally, if you are planning to cue up several different backgrounds/videos, and would like to split the timeline into sections accordingly, click on the timeline frame directly after the end of your layer/section, right-click, then Split Section.
If needed, you can type in a Cue Number and a Note, both of which will appear on your timeline. If you bring up your Cue List (Ctrl + G), you will see your sections with each of their associated Cue Tag & Note!