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FreeJ Tutorial
Written by Anne-Marie Skriver, Montevideo 2004
Edited by Marloes de Valk
PLEASE NOTE: This document is obsolete, as is referred to an early version
of freej. Please look at http://lab.dyne.org/FreejTutorial instead.
The document is here just for historical purposes. - asbesto
Contents
1. introduction
starting FreeJ
the interface
using the keyboard
the text console
working with layers
RGB
special layer commands
working with effects
converting video formats
screenshots and screenmovies
under construction
overview
1. Introduction
FreeJ is a digital instrument for video livesets, featuring realtime
rendering of multilayered video and chained effects directly visible on the
screen. FreeJ deals with every video source as a layer, making then
possible to dynamically apply on each a chain of effects, loadable as
effect plug-ins, and easily customizable. Layers are implemented to mix
together live inputs (video4linux devices), DIVX/AVI files (with avifile
library), PNG images and TEXT files word by word. Other layers are being
implemented. This tutorial will show you how to work with FreeJ. There is
more than just text, on the FreeJ website www.freej.org you can download
tutorial movies, in which you are shown step by step how to work with
FreeJ. HAVE FUN !
2. Starting FreeJ
First download FreeJ from www.freej.org and go to the documentation /
install file to get information about how to install FreeJ on your
machine. It is different depending on what type of machine you have, and
what system you are running on it. FreeJ runs on Linux and OSX. PC users
can run FreeJ using the dyne:bolic CD (dyne:bolic is a GNU/Linux
distribution simply running from a CD, without the need to install anything
www.dyne.org ).
Start up Free. You can download the tutorial movies or use your own movies.
The movies have to be in AVI format, or if you use live input: video4linux.
3. The Interface
[pic] [pic]
FreeJ consists of a output window, an editing window and a text console.
You can manipulate the video by using the keyboard, but you can also
manipulate the video in the editing window or the text console. In this
first part we'll focus on the editing window.
In the menu bar there are four different options: File, OSD, Screen and
Help. In 'File' you can add a layer to the list of layers: it can be a
movie in AVI format, a video4linux live input or a text layer.
In 'OSD' you get On Screen Display information about the layer. Turn the
OSD on and click 'help - information' to scroll between layers. In the
output window, the on-screen display (OSD) reports information like frames
per second (fps), the effects that are applied, the order in which they are
applied, and some status messages.
In 'Screen' you can turn full screen on (press CTRL F to turn it off
again).
Before you start your own setup add the layer that is going to be the
first layer of your setup. Load a movie file into the first layer by
clicking File - add layer. Then select the credits layer with the mouse
and remove it by clicking information. Now you have your own setup.
Now it is time to manipulate the video. The editing window has two columns.
One column for the video layers and one column for the effects that you
can apply to each layer. You select a layer by clicking it. If you have
more than one video layer you can select a layer and move it back and forth
with the arrow buttons.
In the layers column you can apply blends to a layer. In the effects column
you can add effects to a layer. If you have more than one effect applied to
a layer you can select the effect and bring it to the front and back with
the arrow buttons.
You can turn effects and blends on and off by clicking on the wheels button
and you can delete layers and effects by clicking on the red button with a
cross.
4. Using the Keyboard
In this chapter we'll discuss some general key commands. To use the
keyboard click in the output window to make the keyboard active. The video
you loaded into the layer is playing. Pres SPACE to start and stop the
playback of the video. CTRL F or in some cases CTRL SPACE is a switch that
activates and deactivates full screen. You can see information about the
layer (OSD) by pressing TAB. The coloured text tells what kind of layer it
is and which effects are applied to it. If you press CTRL TAB you can turn
the calibration guidelines on or off. (See keyboard map for main keys and
chapter 12 for an overview of all key commands).
[pic]
5. The text console
The text console gives you status information, listing all the layers and
the filters under them, scrolling all status messages and of course letting
you interact through commands. It can also be a shell opened from the net,
i mean a remote terminal which is connected through the net, over distance.
With FreeJ you can do VJoE: VeeJay over Ethernet, which means the control
commands listed under S-LANG console in chapter 13, can also be sent
through the net.
6. Working with Layers.
The layers are representing the different media types that FreeJ handles.
There are three different layers: the AVI layer, the Video4Linux layer, and
the Text layer. When the layers are imported they are listed in the editing
window. The top layer is also the top layer in the output window.
Use the mouse to load a layer. Select the layers by pressing PAGE UP and
PAGE DOWN. When a layer is selected you can edit it in real-time.
Now press HOME to hide and show the selected layer. Switch the order of
layers. Choose a layer and hold CTRL down while moving it up and down in
the list of layers with PAGE UP and PAGE DOWN.
Before applying effects to a layer you can already manipulate the layer
itself. Load a picture file and a movie file into the list of layers and
move the picture to the top. If you want to see a movie behind your
graphics, export your file as a 'png' with transparent background.
You can move the layers around on the screen so that only a part of the
layer is covering the screen. Select a layer, hold down SHIFT and press the
arrow keys. Now you are moving the X and Y position of the layer. You can
also click and drag in the output window with the left mouse button and
move the layers carefully.
Sometimes you can have a setup where you need to activate the layers and
after a while deactivate them again. You use HOME to activate and
deactivate a layer. Try selecting a layer with PAGE UP / PAGE DOWN and
press HOME a couple of times. Look at the editing window. A checked box
appears next to the layer if it is active. Loading and deleting layers can
only be done with the mouse.
In tutorial movie 2 you can see the things described on this page and the
next page. Follow the information text in the output window to see what is
going on. There is a 'png' file on top of two AVI files.
7. RGB
With keys 0 - 9 you can manipulate the colour channels of each layer. The
9 modes are: 0 Blank screen ON/OFF, 1 NORMAL, 2 BLUE, 3 GREEN, 4 RED, 5
ADD, 6 SUB, 7 AND, 8 OR, 9 ALPHA BLEND ON/OFF. First some RGB theory: Any
screen (television screen, computer screen) consist of four channels: The
red, the green, the blue and the alpha channel. If you have a full amount
of red, green and blue the screen is white. The screen turns black when
there is no amount of red, green and blue at all. This way of mixing
colours is called additive synthesis. If you adjust the alpha channel of a
layer you are adjusting how visible the layer is.
When the layer is in normal mode you see all the channels at the same time.
Press 1 to see the layer in normal mode. Look at the show screen. In the
top area you see a yellow text that tells you in which mode the layer is.
The text in normal mode says RGB. Press 2 to see only the blue channel,
press 3 and four to see the green and the red channel.
You can also manipulate the layers with bitwise operations on pixels: ADD,
SUB, AND, and OR. Load two video layers into FreeJ. Press the keys 5, 6, 7,
8 to check out how the four modes are working.
With key 9 you can manipulate the alpha channel. Normally the alpha channel
is turned off and the layer is fully visible. If you want to make the
layer less visible press 9 to switch the alpha blend on. Now keys 1 to 8
work as a scale to determine the visibility of the layer. Press TAB to show
the number indicating how visible the layer is (in the output window). When
you have found a nice alpha blend press 9 again to enable the other layer
options.
8. Special Layer Commands
Each media layer has its own commands connected to it. In the AVI layer it
is possible to do some simple video editing with the keyboard. To use this
function in FreeJ you have to encode the movie with full frames, which
means that a movie with 25 fps should have a keyframe every 25 frames.
You can jump from frame to frame while the movie is playing. Press j and k
to go forward and backward in the movie. You can also jump over a bigger
amount of frames by pressing: h and l
You can choose to loop a certain part of the movie. While an AVI movie
layer is playing you can set in- and out-points (markers) to define the
part of the movie you want to play. Push TAB to see the status text. Press
'I' to set the in-point of the clip. The movie continues to play. Press 'O'
to set an out-point. Now the movie is looping inside the in- and out-points
(See tutorial movie 3).
9. Working with Effects
You can apply one or more effects to every single media layer. You work
with effects by using the function keys. To activate the function keys and
to make sure they only work inside FreeJ, make the output window full
screen. Press TAB to see the status text. Then push the buttons F1-F12.
The status text asks if you want to apply a certain effect. Press ENTER to
apply the effect and a new effect appears in the list.
In FreeJ there is room for 121 effects. These effects are stored in
effectbanks. Each function key is linked to an effectbank that contains 12
different effects. Hold down CTRL and press one of the function keys to
access an effectbank. The status text changes to plugin bank. Still
holding down CTRL you can scroll through the effects in the effectbank
with the F1-F12 keys. When you have picked an effect press ENTER to
activate the effect. Some of the effect banks are empty. You can download
your own effects and store them there.
Changing the order of effects changes results. Use the arrow keys up and
down to choose the layer with the effects you just applied. To move the
effect, hold down CTRL and move it with the arrow keys. Press INSERT to
activate and deactivate an effect (See tutorial movie 4 and 5).
To manipulate effects, use the paired buttons: a-s q-w z-x. The letters
adjust the parameters of the selected effect. See chapter 13. Overview for
a list of key commands.
10. Converting video formats
FreeJ is only working with two video formats: AVI and video4linux. If you
don't have videos compressed in AVI format there is an easy way to convert
files (available in dyne:bolic), with the program 'mencoder'. In this
program it is possible to convert from MPEG-4 to AVI without any loss of
quality. Open a terminal and type this line:
#mencoder/yourmovie.mov -nosound -ovc copy -o yourmovie.avi
There are other compression options: To get more information about sound
type:
#mencoder -oac help
To get more information about video type:
#mencoder -ovc help
11.Screenshots and Screen movies
If you want to document your work in FreeJ you can either make a screenshot
or a screen movie. To record a screen movie, use 'xvidcap' (available in
dyne:bolics video folder, video - record).
Start up xvidcap, go to 'file' and choose 'options' to specify the name,
format, fps, etc. Click the 'target icon' in the menu bar. Specify how big
your recording area should be. If you want to be more precise, open a
terminal and type:
#xvidcap --cap_geometry 400x300
The size of the recording screen will then be fixed to 400x300 (you can of
course type in other sizes). To start recording, click the red button, to
stop recording the stop button. To save the results, go to 'file - options'
and click 'save'. The video will be stored in your home directory.
Screenshots can be made with 'xsg grab' desktop screenshot (also available
on dyne:bolic). When you start 'xsg grab' a circle shows up on the screen
in stead of the mouse pointer. Click in the window that you want to take a
screen shot from. The picture is taken and saved in your home directory as
a 'png' file.
Within FreeJ, use CTR+SPACE for full screen display, CTR+2 makes the output
window double size, CTR+1 turns it back to normal size.
12. under construction
Live Video Input from a TV card or a USB webcam. Log onto the FreeJ web-
page later to download a new version of the FreeJ tutorial.
Live Streaming Open mash program that streams portions of your desktop. Log
onto the FreeJ web-page later to download a new version of the FreeJ
tutorial.
Generative Layers Generative layers are candy for programmers who like to
program their own visuals in c++. You can very soon download the source
code for a generative layer in FreeJ and write your own algorithms. Also
check out the newest generative layers that soon will be downloadable on
the FreeJ website.
13. Overview ^ means CTRL key pressed % means SHIFT key pressed
GENERAL COMMANDS
^F = on/off full screen mode
SPACE = freeze the whole engine
ESC = quit
TAB = on/off OSD
^TAB = on/off calibration guidelines
PRINTSCR = display nice and lovely credits
NUMPAD PLUS = increase overall speed
NUMPAD MINUS = decrease overall speed
LAYER COMMANDS
PGUP/PGDOWN = select layers up and down through the chain
^PGUP/^PGDOWN = move layers up and down through the chain
HOME = hide/show layer
BACKSP = turn matte off
%BACKSP = white matte
^BACKSP = black matte
1 = select NORMAL BLIT 2 = select BLU BLIT 3 = select
GREEN BLIT
4 = select RED BLIT 5 = select ADD BLIT 6 =
select SUB BLIT
7 = select AND BLIT 8 = select OR BLIT 9 =
SWITCH ALPHA blend on/off
0 = SWITCH BLANK screen on/ off with ALPHA blend on (use 1-9 keys to scale
ALPHA blend)
%ARROWS = move layers around through the screen
left mouse-button = drag layers around, slowly and carefully
EFFECT COMMANDS
F1 - F12 = select an available effect (press ENTER to apply it)
you can browse through loaded plug-ins with this
^F1-^F12 = select the effect bank in which you want to browse
effects are stored in 12 banks, containing 12 effects each
UP/DOWN = select created effects up and down the chain
^UP/DOWN = move created effects up and down the chain
DELETE = remove selected effect
^DELETE = remove ALL effects
INSERT = activate/deactivate effect
PNG LAYER COMMANDS
k = switch blinking on/off
o = control subliminal image
p = stop subliminal
VIDEO4LINUX LAYER COMMANDS
k/m = switch up/down input channel
j/n = (if TV tuner is present) switch up/down frequency
tables
h/b = (if TV tuner is present) cycle up/down frequencies
MOVIE LAYER COMMANDS (AVIFILE)
j/k = skip one keyframe back and forward on the movie
h/l = dec/increase keyframe step when skipping
u = set keyframe step back to 1
p = pause (still can seek)
i = set/clear mark_in
o = set/clear mark_out
with full indexed avi files you can use (without indexed avi it can crash):
n/m = -/+ double frame / slow motion
v/b = -/+ play speed
TXT LAYER COMMANDS
l/r arrows = go to previous/next word in text
o,p = -/+ font size, hold CTRL for bigger jumps
u,i = cycle through available fonts
b = blink cycling through words in file, loop at end
m,k = -/+ time on screen while blinking
n,j = -/+ time off screen while blinking
SOME EFFECT COMMANDS (see the effect's source code for details)
DelayGrab: q/w = browse the 4 delay maps
a/s = -/+ block-size
Vertigo: q/w = -/+ phase (shakes it faster or
slower)
a/s = -/+ zoom speed
z/x = -/+ weirdness
QuadTrans: q/w = -/+ frames of the screen
SquareTrans: q/w = -/+ block-size
Water: q/w = -/+ water density Press these once
and check:
e = big splash in the centre
r = randomly placed splash
t = rain
y = whirlpool in the centre
u = surfer
d = distort surface (USE WITH CAUTION)
f = calm water
Cartoon: q/w = -/+ blending
a/s = -/+ border outline
Nervous: q = switch between the 2 modes
Simura: the square of keys on the left:
|q|w|e|
|a|s|d|
|z|x|c|
switch through various mirrors, being z normal
state
S-LANG CONSOLE (arrow keys browse selection through layers and effects)
HOME = de/activate layer,
INS = de/activates filter
^o = Open new layer (will prompt for path to file)
^e = add a new Effect to the selected layer (press TAB for list)
^b = change the Blit for the selected layer (press TAB for list)
^v = change the blit Value for the selected layer
^c = quit FreeJ (asks confirmation)
^f = go to Fullscreen
^l = cleanup and redraw the console
^j = execute a Javascript command (if javascript is compiled)
SDL TIP: if you set the environmental variable SDL_VIDEODRIVER to
something like "aalib" then you can render the output window in ascii art.
You can use other drivers as well, see the SDL documentation for details.
for more information check the dyne:bolic site www.dyne.org or the FreeJ
site www.freej.org
If you have questions about FreeJ, you can send a message to the
mailinglist freej@dyne.org
subscribe with a mail to freej-subscribe@dyne.org
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