VideoLinkwell 3.1 Beta

This manual is to help you use VideoLinkwell Beta. There are also tutorial videos posted on the VideoLinkwell YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/videolinkwell. As the beta progresses there will be changes to the application. This manual will be updated to reflect those changes.

This sections explains the changes made in updates to VideoLinkwell.

This manual is for VideoLinkwell version 3.1.0b194. Check the version to ensure you are using the correct manual.

While using the beta version of VideoLinkwell you may encounter problems or bugs with the program. Reporting these will help me to resolve them. In some cases there will be bug report or crash report dialogs. In this section you can see how to send me that information which helps me resolve the bugs. In other cases there may not be error messages. In those cases you can send an email to info@videolinkwell.com explaining what went wrong. The more information with bug reports the better. Screen captures may also be helpful in addition to written explanations. You can attach those to the email as well.

What to do the first time you open VideoLinkwell.

Setting VideoLinkwell preferences using the Preferences dialog is explained in this section

To use VideoLinkwell to record videos in your project you need to open the recording window first by following the steps in this section.

This section explains how to change the settings for AVFoundation based capture.

QuickTime based capture will be removed in a future version of VideoLinkwell.

Know Issues with QuickTime based capture
The FaceTime HD camera in MacBook Pro Retina Late 2013 and Mac Book Pro Retina Mid 2014 is not compatible with VideoLinkwell although external USB and FireWire cameras will work.

Audio settings dialog has changed and can no longer set the speaker volume or the audio source. See Setting up VideoLinkwell Recording for more details

The Capture Preview Window sometimes does not show the video preview image. For and explanation of how to work around this issue to resolve it see Turning on VideoLinkwell Recording for details.

You should not use QuickTime based capture in new projects. It is however still an option in the current version for use with legacy projects during the transition to the new AVFoundation based capture.

This section explains how to configure QuickTime based capture.

This section explains how to turn video capture on and off and how to show and hide it.

The Project Manager allows you manage your projects saved locally on your computer and in the cloud. This is where you create new projects, upload them to the cloud and share them with other VideoLinkwell users.

The Locations section of the Project Manager contains the locations where you store your projects locally either on your internal hard drive, on external drives, on shared drives on your LAN or in the VideoLinkwell Cloud.

The Projects section of the Project Manager lists all the projects in a selected Location. This is where you create projects, delete them and move them to another location.

The Project Preview allows you to see a preview of the project's target video and any comments associated with the project or its versions. You can you upload or download projects when they are open here.

In the Project Manager you can organize your projects in your Locations. This section explains how to move projects between locations.

If you want to record someone signing a narrative or if you want to record a live interaction with both a signed language and a spoken language you record the video without a source movie.

You can record a movie of a user interpreting a source movie. You would use this for interpreting a signed language movie into a spoken language or a spoken language into a signed language. The source movie is merged with the target movie after the video is finished.

When recording a project that has a source movie use the following controls to start, pause, rewind and stop recording the segements of your video.

A project can have more than one Version. You can capture a new version which records a new movie for it. A new version with a new movie could be used for students to record a new draft of their project after reviewing the feedback from the first version.

You can create a duplicate version which keeps the same target movie. This version will have its own set of links. When duplicating a version you have an option to keep the links from the previous version or not. A new duplicatie version could be used to have feedback from another instructor or mentor added to the project.

You can create a new project using an existing movie. You would do this if you wanted to add links with text and video annotations to a movie that you recorded in another application or that you had from another source such as a camera or one that you downloaded. You can use QuickTime movies with a .mov, a .mp4 or a .m4v extension and must encoded with the H.264 codec with AAC audio.

There are two movie file types that you can use in VideoLinkwell projects. One type are QuickTime Movie files with the extension of .mov and the other are MPEG 4 movie files with the .mp4 or .m4v extension. You need to enable the appropriate format to open the movies. You also need to ensure they are encoded with the H.264 codec.

To share a project you first have to upload it to the VideoLinkwell cloud. This section explains how to upload a project to the cloud. The level of your VideoLinkwell account will determine the number of cloud projects you are allowed. Uploading a project takes one of the project slots in your account.

If new movies are added to a project locally that have not been uploaded to the clould or visa versa you will see a warning that the project needs to be synced. You then need to sync the clould and local versions.

When you are finished with a project you can remove it from the VideoLinkwell cloud. This will free up one of the project spaces that your VideoLinkwell account has. This sections explains how to remove a project from the cloud.

In the Project Sharing tab you can manage the sharing of a project with other users and control which user can edit the project.

This section explains how to share a project with a user who is not one of your contacts for the first time. Once you have shared a project with them they become one of your contacts. When you share a project with a new user it takes one of the project spaces in your VideoLinkwell account.

Once you share a project with a user or they share a project with you they become one of your contacts. When you share a project with a user it takes one of the project spaces in your VideoLinkwell account. This section explains how to share a project with a user who is already a contact.

When you stop sharing a project you had shared with a user it is removed from their list of shared projects and frees up a space for other projects in the VideoLinkwell cloud and it will no longer be synced with the copy in the cloud. If the user had downloaded the project they will still have a copy of the project on their computer. This section explains how to stop sharing a project with a user.

When a user shares a project with you you have the option to accept it or decline it. When you accept a shared project from another user it takes one of the project spaces in your VideoLinkwell account. This section explains how to accept or decline a project shared with you by another user.

Once a project has been shared with you and you have accepted it, you can then download it so you can edit it and add text, video and other annotations. This section explains how to download a project to the default ~/Movies/VideoLinkwell folder.

If you had a project shared with you are done working with you can remove it from your list of cloud projects. This will free up one of your project spaces in your Videolinkwell account. If you had downloaded a copy of the project you will still have that copy on your computer but it will no longer be synced with the copy that is in the cloud. This section explains how to remove a shared project.

Once the video for a project has been recorded or created with an existing video you can open the project in browse mode to add links. You use links to annotate the video with a label, text comments, video comments, video selection, actions and color. An instructor can use links to give feedback using text or video in English or ASL. Students can also work in browse mode to add links and re-interpret a portion of the video or make their own text or video comments.

If a project has a source video it can be displayed beside the target move and the playback of the video can be synced.

If a project has more than one version you can open the individual versions to work on. Each has its own set of links. This section explains how to change versions.

There are various controls that allow you to play the target video or selected time ranges of it, play the video at different speeds, jump to various locations in the movie and adjust other video related settings. You can also control the movie and add links using the keyboard. These controls are explained in this section. There also some functions you can perform using swipe actions using the Track Pad or Apple Magic Mouse. When these are available they will be indicated in the instructions.

The link tool bar has the controls that you use to create, edit and delete links; navigate links; and add or delete linked videos.

You annotate the video by adding links to the video that relate to a specific timepoint in the movie. You can use the links to navigate to and play the movie from set time points and for set time ranges or selections. This section explains how to add, edit and navigate links.

You can annotate the video by adding data to the links. The types of data you can annotate with are: a label, text comments, video comments, a selection of a time range of the video, color and actions.

If you are editing and adding comments to a project that is in the cloud the changes are saved to your local location such as your hard drive automatically, however, you need to manually sync the changes with the cloud.

The Project Info window has meta data about the project and its versions. Some of this data can be edited in this window.