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Video
Page 15 of 18

1. Introduction
2. Files You Need
3. Basic Concepts
4. Transcripts
5. Captioning
6. Windows Media
7. MAGpie
   1. Interface of MAGpie
   2. Captioning in MAGpie
   3. Synch/Publish in MAGpie
   4. Lab: MAGpie
8. Publish to Blackboard
9. Publish to WebCT
10. Resources

Lab:Media Access Generator (MAGpie)

Estimated Time to Complete: 45 minutes

Objectives

Upon completing this lab, you will be able to use MAGpie to:

• Load a video.
• Insert captions through commands and markers.
• Publish or export a captioned video.

Prerequisite Knowledge

To gain the most from this lab on MAGpie, you should have familiarity with:

• Using a text editor, such as NotePad or vi.
• Performing common file operations, such as saving and copying files.
• Using the Interface of MAGpie.
• Captioning in MAGpie.
• Saving and Publishing in MAGpie.

Version Information

MAGpie 2.01 is used in this lab. MAGpie only works after downloading its software along with three other applications in a specific order. Please refer to the MAGpie website for detailed documentation on Installing MAGPIE 2.01 .

Files

For this lab on MAGpie, you will need the following:

• Download and install MAGPie 2.01.
• Either UbiCompLarge.rm (, 2 MB).
• UbiCompText.txt (, 1 KB).
• Download and install RealPlayer - free version
• Example of completed lab project (, 1 KB).

The Lab Begins ...

To create a new project:

1. Start the MAGPie software by two options:
   • Select the 'MAGpie' icon on your desktop.
   • Or, go to the 'Start' menu and select the 'Media Access Generator (MAGpie)' item.
2. This will cause two windows to open.- one that is a DOS prompt, and the other MAGPie.
   
   Note: It is recommended to close or minimize the DOS prompt since you will not be using it.
3. Go to the File menu, then select New Project.
4. This will bring up the 'Open New Project' dialog box (see Image 35 ).
   
   

   Image 35: New project dialog box
   
   

5. Use the browse button to locate the UbiCompLarge.rm.
   Note: Since this is a Real Media (RM) file, you will need to use the Oratrix GRiNS Player. File formats vary in which software supports them. Both GRINS and QuickTime play MP3, SWF (Flash), AVI, MPEG, WAV, and AIFF files. Using GRINS, you can play RM, RA, SMIL/SMI, and MPG but you will need QuickTime to play MOV and DV files.
    
6. Set project properties such as color, font size, etc that affect how the video will be played back. The project properties should be set at this time when creating a new project; however, if needed, you can change the project properties later.
   
   Note: The properties of 'Video width' and 'Video height' do not stretch the video; rather, they provide more room for the video by creating a border around it.
   
   

   Image 36: Creating large fonts
   
   For this example (see Image 36), set the project properties as follows:
   • Leave the default settings for the caption styles, speaker styles, and presentation layout.
   • Change the font size to 48.
   • By changing the font size, you will also need to provide more room for this large font. Change the 'Caption width' to 500 and the 'Caption height' to 250.

7. Select 'OK.'
   
   Note: If you are using Windows and working with the GRiNS interface, you are likely to receive an error message about a file called "jawt.dll"; this means that your computer could not find the file. To resolve this error, copy the jawt.dll file from /Program Files/Java Soft/JRE/1.3.1_03/bin to /system32 (usually found under the /WINNT directory). The copying of this file only needs to be done once. For other errors that occur while using MAGpie, refer to the MAGpie Reported Bugs webpage.
   
    
8. The 'Create New Project Track' dialog box appears and prompts you to select a project track. Since we are working with video, leave the default setting of 'Captions.'
    
9. Select 'OK.'
10. The 'MAGpie Captionator Window' appears.

To caption using MAGpie:

1. Before you start captioning, play the loaded video to get a sense of the size of the captioning space located just below the video. Select the 'play' button from the playback toolbar.
   Note: The slow and fast-forward buttons are grayed out.
    
2. Add the transcript. Although the transcript could be entered by hand, MAGpie offers the time-saving feature of importing it.

   To import the transcript:

   1. In the 'MAGpie Captionator Window', go to the Captions menu.
   2. Select 'Insert captions from file' (see Image 37 ).
      
      

      Image 37: Inserting captions from the menu
      
      
   3. Browse to the transcript file. For this lab, use the file: UbiCompText.txt.
   4. Select 'Open.'
   5. You should now see the captions loaded in the 'MAGpie Captionator Window.' Each caption is represented by one row and its text is displayed in the caption column.

2. There is an extra row (row 1) at the top that is blank and should be removed.

   To remove a row:

   1. In the 'MAGpie Captionator Window', right-click on the row to be deleted.
   2. Select the option of 'Delete selected row(s) from table.'
       
3. Currently, the 'Start Time' and 'End Time' columns are blank. These times are created when the captions and video are synched together.

   To synch the captions:

   1. Make sure you start at the beginning of the video. Before you play the video, select row 1.
      
      
      

      Image 38: Editing the time stamp manually
      
      
      Note: The row that you are working on is highlighted (see Image 38).
   2. Select the 'F9' key; this effectively puts the time of 0:00:00.00 in that row
   3. Select row 2.
   4. Play the video by selecting the 'play' button from the playback toolbar.
   5. Select the 'F9' key at the beginning of each sentence.
      
      Note: Try to get the timing as close as possible but do not worry if it is not exact; you can edit the synching later.

4. As necessary, make any changes in the synching of the captions.

   To edit synching:

   1. In the 'MAGpie Captionator Window', right-click on the row to be edited.
   2. Select 'Unset caption time'.
   Note: You can also edit the synching manually; this is recommended if your timings are just slightly off.

   To manually edit synching:

   1. Select the 'Start Time' column of the row to be edited and adjust the correct time.
       
5. It is recommended that an extra blank caption be put at the end of the video; this lets the users of the video know that the text is no longer being spoken.
    
6. You need to periodically save the project.

   To save the project:

   1. Go the File menu.
   2. Select SavSave. Note: Be certain that you save this project into the same directory that contains video file. For this lab, the video file is UbiCompLarge.rm.
       
7. You may want to view the progress of your synching.

   To view the project:

   1. Select the play button.
   2. The captions should appear below the video.
      
      Note: If the captions do not appear, chances are the captioning is invisible because the project is set to display black letters on a black background. You can change the background color and text color of the captions and other project properties such as font, video width, etc.

   To change project properties:

   1. Go to the File menu.
   2. Select Properties.
   3. This opens the 'Project Properties' window.

Segmenting

Sometimes you may want to give the user a little bit more information about which text is being spoken at any given time by highlighting the text as it is being read. This is done by segmenting the captions. For this lab, you will create a karaoke style effect by segmenting individual words of the captioning.

To turn on segment highlighting:

1. Go to the File menu.
2. Select Properties.
3. The 'Project Properties' dialog box appears.
4. Locate the 'Segment Annotation Style' section.
5. Select the 'Alternate Foreground' radio button, and for this lab, change the color to green.
6. Select the 'OK' button to set the change and close the 'Project Properties' box.

To start segmenting:

1. In the 'MAGpie Captionator Window', right-click on the first row (caption).
2. Select 'Segment by word.'
3. This will cause the 'MAGpie Captionator Window' to be divided into two sections. The upper section holds the full captions. The lower section shows selected row segmented; for this lab, the first row(caption) was segmented by word so each row in the lower section holds one word.(see Image 39).
   
   

   Image 39: egmenting a caption
   
   

4. In the lower section containing the segmenting, select a row. For this example, select the row containing the word 'Computers.'
5. Play the video.
6. Select the 'F9' key when the segment is spoken.
7. To correctly implement the segmenting, you may likely need to play the video and press 'F9' for a few words, then rewind the video a bit, play the video again and press 'F9' for the next couple of words.
   
   Note: You can expect some delay in the finished product between what is being spoken and what is being highlighted.

MAGPie still has some bugs with saving and editing timestamp information. Even when you select File then Save, sometimes the changes do not take effect. Try restarting MAGPie.

Publishing Your Project

Once you are satisfied with the synching, you need to publish your project. The end result of this lab should generate two files, a SMIL file and a RT file.

To publish a project:

1. In the 'MAGpie Captionator Window', go the Export menu.
2. Select the option of 'Real Player - SMIL format'.
   
   Note: When you work with different file formats, be certain to select the option appropriate to your project format.
3. Be certain these two files are saved to the same directory as the video file. For this lab, the video file is UbiCompLarge.rm.
4. You can view your work by opening the .smil file with Real Player.
   
   Note: After publishing, you can still edit the project. Make the necessary changes and then republish.

The next page will discuss integrating video to the course management systems (CMS): Blackboard.

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Georgia Tech Research on Accessible Distance Education (GRADE)
Center for Assistive Technology and Environmental Access (CATEA)
Georgia Institute of Technology (GT) College of Architecture (COA)
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Accessibility User Agreement
Developed in collaboration with IDET Communication (IDET).
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