Author Topic: Updating the UI: Output Stamping (data, watermark on final video)  (Read 9985 times)

DDR

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One of the more often requested features for the Chronos is the ability to see exact timing information, so you can figure out when an event occurred relative to a trigger. This is especially useful for trigger modes where the framerate may not be consistent, such as with shutter gating.


I've designed two screens. The first and the simplest is what I'm intending to include in the initial version of the redesigned UI. I think it covers most of the use-cases, and it's a lot simpler to implement.

(I'm not sure why the arrows on the number inputs got rendered as "a"s. They should just be up/down wedges. 🤷)


The second is a more advanced screen, which exposes more of the hardware capabilities. It would only be useful if we had more than three options, or if there were a solid use-case for having the flexibility to format timing and frame count.


The %percent-key% format would let you burn metadata into the video for easy consumption, since not every video player displays metadata so well. (eg., the pictured "Trg: %TimeFromTrigger%" would actually print something like "Trg: +204515.1ns" in the corner of a saved frame of video.) If in the future we capture metadata on a per-frame basis, then we'll have a bunch of fields which would be quite amenable to this interface.

In both screens, images are pulled from the root folder of a USB stick you insert. (We might get a proper file-browser some day, as part of an on-camera footage management and review system.)


As always, please let me know your thoughts on the matter. If I've missed anything you would find important, now is the best time to let me know. :)
« Last Edit: July 19, 2018, 05:44:10 PM by DDR »

BiduleOhm

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Re: Updating the UI: Output Stamping (data, watermark on final video)
« Reply #1 on: July 20, 2018, 08:20:56 AM »
I like the second one, good job on that. I'd only add the possibility to write custom text in addition to the presets (%frame%, ...) and the possibility to have the timings as 01:23:45.678 for example (because following a dozen digits number when you are editing or even just watching the video is not super easy) or even better: to be able to specify our own format (like the date() function in PHP for example) with something like h:m:s.M (or %h%:%m%:%s%.%ms% so we can have prettier tags (ms instead of M...)) for example.

DDR

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Re: Updating the UI: Output Stamping (data, watermark on final video)
« Reply #2 on: July 20, 2018, 05:07:02 PM »
Thanks! :D

I agree, we should have a way to format the output of time. I'll have to play around with the formatting a bit, when I've implemented the input for it. ... Something I'd like to do would be to add the %-specifiers to a list you could scroll through while entering the text, so you can see what's actually available without having to look it up in the manual. I don't know if I can justify it though, this is the only place I'd really use it at the moment.

NiNeff

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Re: Updating the UI: Output Stamping (data, watermark on final video)
« Reply #3 on: July 21, 2018, 10:36:30 AM »
Both look good, just keep the first one as a basic one and add an "advanced" button which leads to the second one for these nasty engeneers ;D

DDR

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Re: Updating the UI: Output Stamping (data, watermark on final video)
« Reply #4 on: July 23, 2018, 06:50:02 PM »
Hm.

That's actually a really good idea. We've been considering splitting the UI into two versions - one for point-and-shoot use, and one for scientific and engineering use which would expose every number and option we could think of. I'd slotted each mockup into one category. Now that you mention it, I actually quite like the idea of having a simple and detailed view. I think it makes a lot of sense in this case. I was kind of blinded by my categories.

« Last Edit: July 23, 2018, 06:54:05 PM by DDR »

NiNeff

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Re: Updating the UI: Output Stamping (data, watermark on final video)
« Reply #5 on: July 24, 2018, 10:00:55 AM »
i think callign it "advanced options" instead of "detailed view" would be less confusing, since you're not chaning viewing options.

DDR

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Re: Updating the UI: Output Stamping (data, watermark on final video)
« Reply #6 on: September 04, 2018, 03:41:36 PM »
I do not understand. I know neither "Kunbus" nor "piTest", nor why this is posted as a reply to this UI design thread.