Dynamic Fields

Dynamic fields are a very easy to use and intuitive way to create sound with movement. You select a rectangular field in the video picture and assign a sound. The volume of the sound is controlled by the amount of movement in the field. You can use multiple and overlayed fields to create interesting sound environments.

Creating Dynamic Fields:

Create a new Dynamic field by clicking on the Field button in the leftmost column of the Element-Editor. A new field entry shows up in the element list and also a graphical representation in the upper left corner of the video window. A dynamic field measures the changes in the video image between two consecutive video frames.

By dragging the editing boxes on the corners of the field you can resize and move the boxes. Grabbing the box between the editing dots moves the whole field without resizing it.

The main advantage of dynamic fields is that they not only can be used to trigger media events but also allow to modulate sound volume and pitch etc. Technically they calculate a floating point number between 0 and 1 that is proportional to the amount of movement in the field.

Audio-Files

Obviously it is possible to map midi parameters like midi volume controller to the amount of movement. In this example we want to use .WAV sample-files instead and control their volume by the dynamic of the movement.

Switch to the 'Samples' page in the Element-Editor properties page. With the New button you can load one or more sample files from the hard-drive and assign it to the selected field. As default the sample files are looped and the volume is mapped to the amount of movement.

Remark: Don't directly import sounds from CD because loading is too slow. Copy them to your local harddisk first. the assignment between the line and the sound is made by marking the sound-file in the sound-list.

Sample File options

- Use: Allows to turns sample playing on and off. This field is implemented because you might want to mute one sound temporarily without deleting the link between the line and the sound file.

- Loop makes the sound endlessly repeatable as long as you hit the touchline.

- Restart allways starts the sound from the beginning of the sample file whenever you trigger the line. If not checked the sample would play from the position you last stopped playing the sample.

- Permanent plays the whole sample file even if you trigger the touchline just shortly.

- Random selects one soundfile from a list whenever the field is triggered (at least a minimal movement is detected).

Remark: Be careful if you select neither Loop nor Restart always. After playing the sound once, the sound would not play again on subsequent trials to trigger the field.