Magical tour

THE MAGICAL TOUR - Simple component connection

Duration : 5 min.

Magician : Benjamin Crane

Download the pdf

Download the magical tour database (zip.)

OBJECTIVES

• discover the RTMaps Studio
• handle the graphical interface
• connect some components
• play back video and audio data

KEYWORDS

• RTMaps Studio
• component
• inpout/output
• database

USED COMPONENT

• player
• image viewer
• sound renderer

PREREQUISITE

This tutorial does not require any particular knowledge

INSTALL RTMAPS SOFTWARE

If you own any RTMaps Software license, you can download a demo version (30 days) or ask us for a demo version cd. Launch the standard setup procedure and follow the steps. By default, RTMaps is installed in the ProgramFiles\Intempora\RTMaps3.4 folder. Once the installation has successfully completed, you can just launch the RTMaps Studio, either via the desktop icon, or via the the start manu off windows ( all programs > Intempora > RTmaps 3.4 > RTMaps Studio).

NB. The downloadable version is for windows only. Note that RTMaps is also available under Linux.

DIAGRAM AND DATABASE

Select a database

From the component list window on the left, select the player component in section Players/Recorders, then drag and drop it onto the current empty diagram. Right click on the newly created component and choose Properties (or just doubleclick on the component). In the player's properties form, specify the database (STDB) to open in the file field. For this, browse for the ".rec" file located in the Magical Tour database (available for download on the Intempora tutorials webpage).

Note :

When recorded, information is stored in Synchronized Timestamped Databases (STDB). When played back, the sequence is identically reproduced thanks to the data timestamps. A STDB is made of several files. The main file (the synchronisation file) has a ".rec" extension.
Component constitute the functional blocks that will be used to build any RTMaps application. They represent sensors, algorithms, actuators... They are symbolized by blue boxes and their interconnections by "wires".
The player component can play back RTMaps STDB. Each flow recorded and available in the database is represented by a green square which indicate the type of information by dragging the mouse over.

Input & Output

The created green spots that have just been created on the player represent dataoutputs. Four data flows are available in the database. Three of them are videos, the fourth one is an audio stream. (check this by dragging the mouse over them and reading the tooltips). Save your diagram. The associated extension is rtd.

DATA DISPLAY

Play video data

To display a video flow, use an image viewer component. You will find it in the viewers library's section. Place three image viewers on the diagram and connect each image output of the player to an image viewer input.

Play Audio Data

In order to handle the audio data (and output it on the speakers), you will need a new set of components within a RTMaps package. In the RTMaps Studio toolbar, click on the register package button ( ), or via the menu "Actions > register/unregister package", then "add...". Browse for the package file called rtmaps_audio.pck located in "/Intempora/RTMaps3.4/packages". The new package is now available in the components list. Place a Sound Player component on the diagram and connect it to the audio output of the player.

Note : The RTMaps standard components library is made of the whole set of provided packages. The extension corresponding to a package file is ".pck"

RUN DIAGRAM

Run the diagram pressing the "run" button, either from the RTmaps Studio toolbar or at the left of the VCR, then re-arrange the positions of the display windows created by each image viewer component as you like. Use the VCR window in order to control the time flow. Your diagram could look like this:

Note : Use the different VCR functionalities to manipulate play back speed, direction and position.