Xenturi Sample Projects

 

 

Introduction

 

For your convenience, a sample project, created using Xenturi Studio One, has been included on the CD-ROM.

 

The following few pages will guide you step by step through re-creating some of this demo yourself using Studio One.

 

If you wish to view all of the source files used to create the actual demo, you will need to copy the source files from the CD to your hard drive. To do this, copy the entire directory (..\xenturi\sample project) to the root of your hard drive, so that you now have a directory ‘c:\sample project’. 

NB Ensure that all copied files ARE NOT set to read-only.

 

The source files can then be accessed (and edited) using Xenturi Studio One. To open the project, select File/open project and select c:\sample project\reviewers.caw

 

It is possible to view the project (through Studio One) by running the project. Select the Run project Icon

 

It is worth having a look at this project to see how a Xenturi presentation is put together. Looking at the project overview  - File/Project Overview – to see how many screens are in a project, and how they are linked together.

 

Example Projects.

 

The first example project is a simple demonstration of the ease with which Xenturi Studio One can be used to play a full screen video presentation.

 

The second project is split into a series of short sections, introducing key aspects of the Studio One product :

 

·        Placing a video on the screen;

 

·        Controlling a presentation with Regions, Events and Actions;

 

·        Linking to other screens;

 

·        Sculptured Video.

 

A soft copy of the manual is available on the main CD-ROM. This manual is for version 1.0 of Xenturi, and is currently being updated for this version of the program. It is therefore not complete


 

Xenturi Sample Projects

 

Part 2 - Placing a video on the screen.

 

STEP 1 – Creating a new project

1.      Start Xenturi Studio One.

2.      From the menu bar, select File/New Project

3.      Complete the ‘New Project’ dialog– giving the project a name for example ‘Proj2’.

4.      From the Screen Properties box, select the colour depth and set it to 24 bit.  This combined with the default settings will produce a project that will run full screen (not windowed) and the screen resolution will be set to 800x600 with a colour depth of 24bit.

5.      Select a new Default Background Colour using the drop down menu.

6.      Select ‘OK’ to create the new project.

 

STEP 2 – Adding an Image

1.      Select the ‘Image’ icon  from the plug-in tool bar. Use the mouse to place an Image object into the main project window.

2.      Img1’ will appear in the ‘Object List’. Select this.

3.      Select the ‘Object’  tab and select file image file to be loaded. (In this case the file is named ‘background.bmp’, and can be found on the CD in the directory: 

..\source_media\background.bmp.

4.      Select the  Layout’ tab of the and set the ‘Left’ and ‘Top’ values to zero, so that the image sits in the top left corner of the screen and set the width and height to 800 and 600 so that it fills the entire screen.

5.      Click the ‘Run Screen icon to test the project.

 

STEP 3 – Adding The Video

6.      Select the ‘Video’ icon  from the plug-in tool bar. Use the mouse to place a video object into the main project window.

7.      Vid2’ will appear in the ‘Object List’. Select this.

8.      Select the ‘Object’  tab from the dialog box.

9.      To select the video file to be played, select the ‘’ button next to the ‘Filename’ box. (An example video file can be found on the installation disc in the directory.)

..\sample project\source media\Mill_MPEG1.mpg

10.  Ensure that the  Direct to Screen Render’ box is selected. (This option produces faster running video on some older machines. )

11.  Tick the ‘AutoPlay’ box to ensure the video starts as soon as the presentation runs.

 

12.  Select the  Layout’ tab of the dialog box and set the left, top, width and height values to 405,128,316,258 so that the video sits in the TV Screen area of the image. In this example we have sized the video smaller than its original 352x288 format, but retained the aspect ratio.

13.  Click the ‘Run Screen icon to test the project.

 

14.  The video should run full screen. Press the ‘Esc’ key at any time to stop the presentation and return to the Studio One editor.

 

If the Video to be played has been encrypted by the Xenturi VideoLock technology, then the encrypted video box will need to be ticked to ensure that the video is played back correctly. The video encryption tool has not been provided with this product, but an example encrypted video is provided on the CD at D:\EncryptedVideo\mill.mpg

 

 


Xenturi Sample Projects

 

 

Part 3 - Using Events and Regions to Control Presentations

 

In this section we shall build on the existing project by adding a pause button to control the video. The functionality of the other buttons can be added in the same way. In addition to this we shall add an Internet URL Link to the www.xenturi.com logo at the bottom of the image.

 

STEP 1 – Adding a Pause Button

7.      If necessary start Xenturi Studio One and load the project we have been working on.

8.      Place a ‘Region’  over the pause button on the background image. Regions are used to allow interaction between the user and the presentation. Select the ‘Region’ icon from the plug-in tool bar. Use the mouse to place / draw this region over the pause button.

 

 

STEP 2 – Adding an Action to the Click Event

We want to pause the video when the user clicks the mouse on the pause button

15.  RNG3’ will appear in the ‘Object List’. Select this

16.  Select the ‘Events’ tab and double click on the event names LClick. This will display the ‘New Action’ dialog.

 

 

17.  Select Video as the object to be actioned, and the Pause as the action.

18.  Click the ‘Run Screen icon to test the project.

 

Now when the Pause button is pressed, the video will pause.  The other actions such as play, stop etc can be added in the same way.

 

STEP 3 – Adding an Internet Link to a Click Event

1.      Place a new Region around the Xenturi banner at the base of the image.

 

 

2.      Select the Event tab for the new Region and double click on the LClick action.

 

3.      Select Launch File as the object, Open as the action, and then specify the URL of the web page you wish to open. When the Region is clicked, the default web browser will attempt to link to the specified web page.

 

 

 

 

19.  Click the ‘Run Screen icon to test the project.

 

 


 

Xenturi Sample Projects

 

 

 

Part 4 - Roll-over Buttons and Effects

 

In this section we shall build on the existing project by adding a roll-over effect to the pause. Additional functionality to other controls can be added in the same way.

 

STEP 1 – Adding The Roll-Over Image

9.      If necessary start Xenturi Studio One and load the project we have been working on.

10.  Load a new image (in the same way as the background image was loaded). In this case load the image  ..\source media\pause.bmp

11.  Using the layout tab, set the left, top, width and height settings to (502,460,52,54) – Note: the width and height are the image’s original size.

12.  Set this image to be hidden when the project starts. (We only want the image to be shown when the user passes the mouse over it.) This is done by clicking the visible column of the object list.

 

 

 

STEP 2 – Adding an Action to the GotFocus & LostFocus Events

In addition to pausing the video when the user clicks the mouse on the pause button, we want the pause button to change image as the user passes the mouse over it – giving it a roll-over effect.

20.  Select the relevant region from the object list .

21.  Select the ‘Events’ tab and double click on the event named GotFocus. This will display the ‘New Action’ dialog.

22.  Select the Image that you have just loaded, and select the Show action.

23.  Now repeat for the LostFocus event, and select the Hide action.

24.  Click the ‘Run Screen icon to test the project.

 

Now when the user passes the mouse over the pause button, it will change appearance.  The same functionality can be easily applied to other actions such as play, stop etc .

 

In this way it is possible to completely customise the look and feel of any user interface created with Xenturi.


 

Xenturi Sample Projects

 

Part 5 - Linking to Other Screens

 

In this section we shall build on the existing project by adding a second screen, and linking to this screen from the first screen

 

STEP 1 – Create a second screen

13.  Select the File/New Screen option to create a new screen. This screen will have the same settings as the project with regard to screen size and colour depth.

14.  Create a new screen (for example one that shows the video Full-screen).

15.  Save this screen, and test that it runs by clicking the ‘Run Screen icon

 

 

STEP 2 – Linking to this screen.

We want some action on our 1st screen to launch this new screen. For this example we will put a region around the ‘Full Screen’ icon.

 

25.  Now add a Region around this image on the screen, and double click the LClick event (on the Events tab) to start the New Action dialog

26.  Select Application as the object to be actioned, and Open as the action.

 

 

27.  Select the Filename option. This will present a list of all other screens in the project. Select the new screen that you want to link to.

 

Now when the Region is clicked, the new screen will be displayed. To return to this screen, do the same in reverse, selecting some event on the other screen to launch it from.

 

Xenturi Sample Projects

 

Part 6 – Sculptured Video

 

In this section we shall build a new project to demonstrate sculptured video. Sculptured video is a masking technology that allows a video to be played in any shape rather than the standard rectangle, allowing any existing background image to be viewed in areas where the video is masked (hidden).

 

You need 3 items to make a sculptured video:

 

1.      The video file – Standard MPEG1

 

2.      The mask file – a black and white BMP file saved at a colour depth of 256 colours, the same size as the original video file (often 352x288 for an MPEG1 video file).

 

3.      The background bitmap image – Standard BMP

The final effect of these 3 files is a video playing in a user defined ‘sculptured’ shape.

 


(Sculptured Video Tutorial – Page 2)

 

STEP 1 – Create a new Xenturi project

 

STEP 2 – Select a back ground image

16.  Add an image to the new project. An example image is at

..:\sample project\source media\sculpt_bgd.bmp

17.  Switch to the layout tab, and select Lock Aspect Ratio and then click Size to Image. This will ensure that the image is displayed at its original size and aspect ratio.

18.  Now set the image’s left and top values to 100,100.

19.  Save this screen, and test that it runs by clicking the ‘Run Screen icon

 

 

STEP 3 – Adding the video and mask.

 

28.  Now add a video  to this screen:  ..\sample project\source media\mill_mpeg.mpg.

 

29.  On the object tab for the video, set the following properties:

a.     Untick Direct to Screen – The direct to screen option is used for full screen presentations on lower specification hardware. For this sculptured video example, it is necessary to mask the video file as it is rendered, and as such it should not be played direct to screen.

b.     Tick AutoPlay  - So that the video will start when the screen first opens.

c.     Tick the Sculptured Video option, and then select a mask suitable mask file : ..\sample project\source media\sculpt_mask.bmp

 

30.  Switch to the layout tab, and select Lock Aspect Ratio and then click Size to Image. This will ensure that the video is displayed at its original size and aspect ratio.

 

31.  Now set the videos left and top values to 106,96. This will line up the mask with the background image.

 

32.  Finally make sure that the image is BEHIND the video. This is done using the arrows in the Object list box.

 

 

 

33.  Save this screen, and test that it runs by clicking the ‘Run Screen icon