Setting Project Preferences			Archiving or Restoring
Chapter 1, Managing Projects

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Setting Up Video Previewing

Previewing Video

If your system has the appropriate hardware, you can preview your work on a broadcast video monitor. Video previewing is available for Toxik on Windows 32-bit. Depending on the level of performance of the video output card and the graphics card, as well as the host system CPU, Toxik can achieve real-time previewing of 1920x1080 24P resolutions (and below) of 8-bit RGB or RGBA material.

Toxik will only display 8-bit pixel formats on the video preview device. To display 16-bit float and 32-bit float images, you must convert them to 8 bits.You can do this by using a display modifier in the Player that converts to 8 bits, such as the sRGB, 3D LUT, or Convert Depth tools--see About Utilities. Or you can add and connect such a node inside your composition to explicitly convert your material to 8 bits.

Setting Up Video Previewing

To preview video on a broadcast monitor, you will need the AJA Xena 2K video card and its accompanying driver installed on your system. For more information, refer to the Toxik Windows Installation Guide.

1. Open the User Preferences window by doing one of the following:

   • From the menu bar, select Edit > Preferences > User.

   • In the taskbar, click your user name.

2. In the User Preferences window, select the Video Preview tab.

3. For the device, select AJA Preview and click Show Settings.

   

4. In the AJA Preview Setup window, select a primary format.This should match the resolution and update rate of the material you want to preview. If the resolution does not match, the image will be centered in the video preview device.If the update rate does not match, the video preview device will not be updated with a new image at every video refresh.

5. In the Preview Options section, deselect the Auto Resize option.

6. Set any other parameters you would like and click OK. Refer to the AJA documentation for information on the preview options and color options.

7. In the User Preferences window, click Show Settings if you want to edit the settings the next time you select the Video Preview tab.

Previewing Video

When previewing a composition's video on a broadcast monitor, you can work with multiple Players.

Note: When you zoom out the Player to 0.5, the video image is resized.

1. Open a composition.

2. Create, import, or link to material that is RGB or RGBA.

   Hint: If the material is 16 or 32 bits, you can convert it to 8 bits by using a display modifier in the Player or by adding a Convert Depth node to the process.

3. Click the Player which contains the video you want to display on the broadcast monitor.

   The Player displays the image generated by the tools in your dependency graph.

   Note: Manipulators are not shown in the video preview.

4. In the transport controls, press Play to play the composition.