TUTORIAL INDEX

 

About SX Video Compare v3.3^pro

File Menu

Settings Menu

Goto Menu

Project Menu

Help Menu

Main Window Controls

Video Window Controls

Toolbox Window Controls

Measurement of distances

Measurement of angles:

Measurement of time - stopwatch:

Saving measurements:

Memo Write Editor

Memo Write Editor Menu

SX Video Compare v3.3 pro registration:

Tips & Tricks

 

About SX Video Compare v3.3^pro

 

SX Video Compare v3.3^pro is a multi purpose video analyzing system for use in different sports (alpine skiing, athletics, horse riding, etc.). It was especially build for alpine skiing with several special features. Analyzing videos have never been so easy and fast before. It is possible to analyze and compare up to ten videos at the same time. Each video contains three programmable stopwatches (time counters). When using “not interlaced” full video size 50 Hz (60 Hz) time measurement can be achieved from 25 Hz (30 Hz) video. In variety of sports and different circumstances it completely replaces sophisticated and expensive timing devices. Furthermore it enables tactics trainings for example in alpine skiing etc., it helps trainers to represent their racers a standard daily video analyzing. It is possible to measure distances, angles, directions etc directly from the video image. All these and more can be done using mobile or desktop PC compatible computer with any commercially available digital camcorder. Using appropriate video capturing devices, TV images can be analyzed as well. Program support all AVI codecs depending on the computer settings.

 

File Menu

Open

Open the desired video clip file in one of the ten available windows. The videos are automatically ordered on the desktop.

Close All         

Close all opened videos. 

Exit     

Close all windows and Exit SX Video Compare program.

 

Settings Menu

Video size

Define video size. Several options are available:

In case Custom option is selected, the user may define any size between 100x100 and 800x600.

Note: Use symbol “x” between horizontal and vertical size.

Zoom  

Sets the zoom magnification factor. Zoom window appears during measuring.

Colors 

Sets the colors (click on the name) and widths of the lines used for distances and angles measurement.

 

 

Goto Menu

 

All “Goto functions” are built for fast replaying and analysing synchronized videos. They are based on thee different time counters T0, T1 and T2.

Time 1

Reposition all opened videos to T1 = 0.

Time 2

Reposition all opened videos to T2 = 0.

Equal Time     

Reposition all opened videos to time equal to T0.

Clip Start        

Reposition all opened videos to the beginnings of the clips.

Related button: Rewind Allmenu_main window

 

Project Menu

Open              

Open saved project.

Save               

Save current project.

 

Help Menu

 

About             

Shows version and basic information of the program.

 

Help                

Shows this help.

 

Main Window Controls

 

 

All commands on the main control act on all secondary windows (up to ten secondary windows).

     Open: Open AVI video file. Up to 10 AVI clips can be opened in subsequent windows.

     Save measurements: Write selected measurements from all videos to memo txt file. On the first click it opens a new memo write editor where the measurements are stored.

     Tools Window: Open toolbox window (Toolbox Window Controlsmenu_tools).

     Play all: Play all opened videos with the normal recorded speed.

     Play slow: Play  all opened videos with half of the recorded speed.

     Stop all: Stops playing of the opened videos.

     Rewind all: Rewind all opened videos on the time counter T0 = 0.

     Step back: Step one frame back on all open videos. Pushed down button results in slow motion.

    Step forward: Step one frame forward on all open videos. Pushed down button results in slow motion.

          

Scroll all: Scroll all opened videos to the position indicated with the scroll bar. The length of the scroll bar is related to the length of the first video clip and the first time counter.

 

 Video Window Controls

 

 

      Measure angleproc_angle

      Measure angle between 2 linesproc_angle

      Mirror: Mirror video clip’s frame with all drawing objects.

      Info: Show the basic video clip information (frame rate, video size, length in seconds and number of frames).

 

Measurement of distances

All the distance measuring tools can be found in the Toolbox Windowmenu_tools . menu_toolsBefore measuring distances you have to define the video clip that will be analyzed. This is simply done by clicking on the video clip with the mouse cursor (selected video window turns green). Begin the measurements by pressing calibration button  (Calibrate distance) and calibrate video frame by a known object. Calibration is not necessary only if you compare distances in pixels from different video clips where in all cases the position of the camera and camera zoom remains unchanged. It is especially necessary to calibrate distance when you want to measure distances in real units, e.g. cm, inches. After defining the edges of a known object on the video clip, the program requires the numeric value of specified distance. The numeric value has to be entered in the corresponding edit box, which is displayed beside the calibration button after begging of the calibration. The input has to be confirmed with a double click.  The video frame is now calibrated now and it is prepared for measuring distances.

Note: the calibration value should be written as “D=…”.

For measuring distances press the  (Measure distance) button. Then click on two points on the video frame where you want to measure distance. The result is shown in the distance display  on the Video Clip Windowmenu_video window .

Note: the accuracy of the measurement is defined by the appropriate calibration method. Video clip is only a 2D data, the distance on the other hand is a 3D data.

For saving the distance measurements press the Save Measurement button  in the Main Window Controlsmenu_main window. Appropriate distance checkbox have to be checked in the Memo Write Editormenu_memo write.

Example:

Use the gate length for calibrating the video frame (green line) and then measure the distance from the outside ski to the gate (red line).

 

Measurement of angles:

All the distance measuring tools can be found in the Toolbox Windowmenu_tools . menu_toolsBefore measuring distances you have to define the video clip that will be analyzed. This is simply done by clicking on the video clip with the mouse cursor (selected video window turns green).

There are two possible ways on measuring angles. The calibration is not needed in either case. To measure angle between two intersecting lines press  (Measure angle) button and define a polygon-line with three points. The angle between is calculated and shown in the angle display  on the Video Clip Windowmenu_video window .

To measure the angle between two separate lines press the  (Measure angle between 2 lines) button. Then define two lines by clicking two points for each. Again, the angle calculated is shown in the same angle display  on the Video Clip Windowmenu_video window . The angle is calculated from two vector lines. The result is different (supplemental angle) if the lines are directed one way or another.

Note: Video clip is only a 2D data, e.g. joint angle on the other hand is a 3D data. Use measurements for direct comparison or carefully decide in which frames the athlete (the measuring angle) is perpendicular to the viewing angle.

For saving the angle measurements press the Save Measurement button  in the Main Window Controlsmenu_main window. Appropriate angle checkbox have to be checked in the Memo Write Editormenu_memo write.

Example 1:

Use of “Measure angle” for shank leaning away from the gravity. The real leaning angle is close to the measurement because the skier is in approximately in the perpendicular plane according to the viewing angle.

Example 2:

Use of “Measure angle between 2 lines” for body leaning according to the terrain. The real leaning angle is close to the measurement because the skier is in approximately in the perpendicular plane according to the viewing angle.

 

 Measurement of time - stopwatch:

For measuring time three counters are available on each Video Clip Windowmenu_video window . They can be independently set to zero by double clicking on the counter display . The time resolution depends on the frame rate of the video and is set automatically. Normally time T0 is used for the beginning of the run / performance, because the Scroll Bar  and Rewind All button  on the Main Window Controlsmenu_main window are relying on T0 time. All the counters are measuring time when the video clip is moving. Most commonly time T1 is used for section time and time T2 for the comparison difference. Using Odd Lines button  and Even Lines button  in the Toolbox Windowmenu_tools ±0.01s accuracy can obtained by standard full sized uniterlaced 25 Hz video clip.

 

Beside playing and step buttons on the Video Clip Windowmenu_video window and on the Main Window Controlsmenu_main window there are also special GoTo shortcuts in the Goto menumenu_goto on the Main Window Controls that makes analyzing fast and comfortable. 

For saving the time measurements press the Save Measurement button  in the Main Window Controlsmenu_main window. Appropriate time checkboxes have to be checked in the Memo Write Editormenu_memo write.

 

Saving measurements:

All values corresponding to the times T0, T1 and T2, distance and angle can be stored in a text file by pressing on the  Save measurement button on the Main Window Controlsmenu_main window. When pressing the first time a new text window in Memo Write Editormenu_memo write is opened. Any additional press on the Save measurement button  saves data from all selected measurements displays on video windows to the corresponding Memo Write Editor. For each video clip a separate column is created with a header containing the short abbreviation name (8 characters) of the video clip. The user can freely add his own text and remarks in the corresponding memo form. Even conventional editing and deleting of the data can be made during measurements.

For additional information refer to Memo Write Editormenu_memo write.

 

Memo Write Editor

Memo Write Editormenu_memo write is opened by first pressing on the Save measurement button  on the Main Window Controlsmenu_main window.

Before writing measurements in the Memo Write Window the user have to select which measurements should be written by checking the appropriate Checkboxes . T1 corresponds to time counter T0, T2 to counter T1, T3 to counter T2, Dist to display Distance and Ang to display Angle. Any important setting changes results in adding new header in Memo Write when the Save measurement button  is pressed. The user can freely add his own text and remarks in the Memo Write Window any time. Even conventional editing and deleting of the data can be made during measurements.

 

Memo Write Editor Menu

Open   

Open saved Memo Write file.

Save as                      

Save current measurements, comments and remarks.

 

SX Video Compare v3.3 pro registration:

 

Before registering the SX Video Compare v3.3 pro is in trial version. Program will only work two weeks from the day of installation. To complete the registration is necessary for further usage of the program. The following data should be filled in for registration of the SX Video Compare v3.3 pro. After sending the registration form to the provider you will receive your Registration code. The license of program is dedicated to the specified computer. The registration code will work only on the specified computer. User’s and computer’s information helps us offering accurate help.

 

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SX Video Compare v3.3pro registration form

First name:

Last name:

Company / Association / Club / Private:

Street name and house No.:

Postal Code:

Country:

Email Address:

Phone No.:

Fax No.:

 

Computer model:

*Install Code:

**SX VC serial number:

Desktop / Notebook computer:

Processor speed:

Hard disk volume:

Operating system:

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For any additional questions or online help please contact us through info@sxteamsoft.com or help@sxteamsoft.com.

*Install Code: This code should be read from your computer, when you start SX Video Compare v3.3 pro. The following picture shows an example with the highlighted Install code. This window appears only when the program is not registered.