Video Paper Builder - Quick Tutorial

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IMPORTANT NOTICE - There are several major issues with VideoPaper Builder. View our Known Issues page for descriptions of the issues and work-arounds.

13 Easy Steps to Creating a VideoPaper

This section is for users who are familiar with the VideoPaper authoring process or who want to get started creating a VideoPaper very quickly. More detailed information on all features of VPB3 is available in the User Guide.

1. Download and install the appropriate software for your machine.

2. Create or locate content files for your VideoPaper (digital video file, transcript .txt file, text, digital images)

3. Open the VideoPaper Builder software:

Click "New" to begin a new VideoPaper

4. Follow the four steps ( VideoPaper, Author, Layout, Movie) outlined in the VP Settings dialog box to:

Name your VideoPaper
Enter Author Information for your VideoPaper
Select a layout for your VideoPaper content
Select and import the video file to be used

5. Click on the New Page button to add text pages to your VideoPaper; (Give each page a Title using the Properties button) the title of each page will appear in the Navigation Menu.

For each page you would like to include, either import an .html file, paste text in from a text editor, or type content directly in the VPB3 Text Editor; all text, whether imported, pasted, or typed, is editable
Drag and drop Page titles to rearrange into the order you wish them to appear in your Navigational Menu. Pages may be organized within Sections for additional levels of organization
Use the Section button to create new sections and drag pages into them. Edit Section or Page titles using the Properties button, or delete using the Trash button

6. Add Play/Stop button links between your text and video:

Double-Click on the name of a Text Page; the content will appear in the Text Editor
Place your cursor directly at the point in the text you wish to be linked from

Click on the Play/Stop Insert button.
A dialog window will open, asking you to enter the start/stop times for the Play/Stop button you want to create.

Enter hours:minutes:seconds:frames for Start and Stop
Choose the rate at which you want the video to play
Click "OK"
A Play/Stop button will appear in your text at the cursor's current location
To edit or delete the Play/Stop button, right-click on it; you will be able to:
- Edit the video start/end time
- Delete the button
- Activate the controller to view the section of the video that will be played

7. Create a References Page and Add Reference button links to your text:

Click on the References tab in the main VPB workspace; click on Add New Reference to add an Untitled Reference. Each new reference will appear in the list in the Tab window
For each added reference, double click on its text label or click on the Preferences button to edit its text label and add content (Footnote, Reference, etc)
To add References to a text page: within the Text Editor, place your cursor directly at the point in the text you wish to add a reference to
Click on the Add Reference button
To edit or delete the inserted Reference button, right-click on it; you will be able to:
- Select a Reference from the Reference Tab list to link to
- Delete the button
The list of references (whether linked to from the text or not) will be saved in the Published version of the VideoPaper as a References Page and linked from the Navigation Menu. References inserted within the text will appear as (superscript) numbers, corresponding to the content of the linked reference in the Reference Page

8. Create a Slide Show of images linked to the timeline of your video:

Click on the Timeline button(accessed through "View/Timeline") to open the Timeline window, which visually depicts the length of your video file as well as the organization of Slides, Video Overlays, and VP Sync buttons which appear/disappear as the movie is played

Click on the Slide row (the Slide row label will turn purple when selected) to activate the Slide feature, and click on New Track Content to create a new instance of a Slide.
The "Edit Slide Settings" window will display.
You can:
- title your slide
- choose the slide file
- set the start/end times of the slide
To import an image, click on the inserted Slide instance and then onTrack Content Info; browse to a digital image file and give a title to the slide; your image will appear in the Timeline
Edit your Slide:
- Drag the image to the correct time
- Expand or contract the duration of the slide's appearance by dragging on the purple arrows at each end of the image, which represent the Start and Stop times for your image to appear/disappear
Do this for each additional Slide you wish to appear throughout the viewing of your video. Slides cannot overlap each other; they will turn red to identify which slides need to be adjusted on the timeline
New slides will appear to the right of the right-most slide in the timeline

9. Add Video to Page (Page Link) buttons in your video to link to specific pages of text:

In the Timeline Window, click on the Page Links row (the Page Links row label will turn purple when selected) to activate the feature, and click on the New Track Content icon;
The "Edit Page Link Settings" window will display.
You can:
- title your page link
- choose the page to link to
- set the start/end times of the page link
Click on the new Page Link instance and then the Track Content Info icon to change the Page Link title and to select a Text page for it to link to
Drag-and-drop the Page Link to the correct time in the Timeline window; the purple arrows can be dragged on to expand/contract the starting and ending points of the Page Link. Instances of Page Links cannot overlap each other; they will turn red to identify which instances need to be adjusted on the timeline
When your published VideoPaper is viewed, a button will appear in the top right corner of the video during the selected Page Link times. When clicked on by a user, the referenced Text Page will appear in the text window

10. Add Video Overlays to your video:

In the Timeline Window (accessed through "View/Timeline"), create an Overlay Track (a new row in the Timeline) by clicking on the New Overlay Track icon; an Overlay row will appear in the Timeline. Do this for each additional Overlay row desired. Each Overlay row can contain multiple instances of an overlay with the same title, color, and shape; multiple instances are used to change the location of the overlay over time
To give an Overlay row a label, and to choose the shape, color, and position of the Overlay's text label (the same as the Row label) click on the new row and then click on the Overlay Track Info icon
To create a new instance of an Overlay, click on the New Track Content icon; a new Overlay will appear in the Timeline
Drag-and-drop the Overlay instance to the correct time in the Timeline window; the purple arrows can be dragged on to expand/contract the starting and ending points of the Overlay. Instances of Overlays cannot overlap each other; they will turn red to identify which instances need to be adjusted on the timeline
Click on the new Overlay instance and then the Track Content Info icon to edit the size and location of the Overlay
To delete an Overlay row, click on the Overlay row (the label will turn purple when selected)and then on the Delete Track icon

11. Add Captions to your video:

Click on the Captions tab in the main VPB workspace; click on Import New Caption to import a .txt caption file, or double-click on New Caption to open the Caption Editor to create a new caption file
Use the movie controllers and the Mark Current Line buttons to attach a start time to each line of transcript; right-click on each numbered utterance to make text edits
View your captions in the main VideoPaper Builder workspace

12. Save your VideoPaper by clicking the Save button:

The VideoPaper will be saved as a .vpb file
This file can be opened in VideoPaper Builder in order to make additional edits or update the VideoPaper

13. Publish your VideoPaper by clicking on File/Publish:

Create or choose a folder to save your VideoPaper to; click OK
View your VideoPaper by opening the exported file "index.htm" in a web browser

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Last Update: 07/15/2005 Maintainer: VPB Webmaster (webmaster@concord.org)