Using the video preparation tool on a workstation

Sometimes if you don't have time available to slice videos using the Uniview's Video Preparation tool on your dome (cluster nodes) then you can do that on a workstation (provided you have a workstation license for it).

This scenario will not copy the final files to you cluster nodes + GUI (basically your dome setup), so you have to manually copy all the required files. Also, this is only suited for RT slicing.

To know the structure of the video files and where they should be placed make sure you have read the knowledge base article: https://uniview.userecho.com/knowledge-bases/7/articles/621-how-to-play-a-fulldome-video-from-uniview-when-not-using-the-video-preparation-tool

Essentially, you can run the Video Preparation Tool twice, one for the resolution that you want (e.g 4K ) for your cluster node and one for 1 K for your GUI. In this particular way you can have a low resolution version for gui (so that it takes less space on the GUI's C drive). Unfortunately, the preview option with 512 resolution doesn't work for standalone slicing.

So to summarize:

1) Run Uniview once on your workstation in standalone mode.

2) Start the video preparation tool on your workstation.

3) Select the frames and audio as usual.

4) Make sure you have "Force RT slicing"  checked.

5) Select the resolution you want the final movies to be.

6) Copy the files in your <User Folder>/Playlist Items on your GUI node only.

7) And copy video and audio files to <User Folder>/Videos folder to the appropriate places to all the cluster nodes.

8) Change resolution for step (5) and repeat the process for generating smaller file size for GUI and copy that video file to the <User Folder>/Videos directory on the GUI.