You will spend most of the time in VRT Timing. This app analyzes a captured video and lets you frame-by-frame analyze the finish.
In the most common workflow, after you have stopped the video capture in VRT Nikon, you will wait for the video to download from the camera to the laptop.
- The "Reload Video" button will highlight, and you can press it to show the new video.
- Tap the Mark> button (or press M) to advance to the frame where you created a Mark. You can cycle through all the Marks by pressing the button multiple times.
- Use the left and right transport controls at the bottom of the screen (or left/right arrow keys) to frame forward and backward. Also drag the slider to move rapidly through the video.
- Zoom in using the mouse scroll wheel, or pinch to zoom on the touchscreen. Or press Z to zoom to the finish line.
- To pan, use the scrollbars on the video; right click on the mouse and drag; or press the up/down buttons on the keyboard.
- Once you have found the frame where the dragon boat nose breaks the finish line, tap the Set # button on the right side, or type in the boat number on the keyboard.
- After setting all teams, tap the Boat> (or press B) to cycle through all the boats to review your work.
- Tap Publish in the upper left corner to both Save and publish your work. Save writes your file to disk; Publish indicates the results are ready for public consumption (and also performs a save).
- If you are displaying videos at the race, insert the USB key and tap the Upload button on the left to transfer the video and results.
You have successfully captured the race results. Next, go to the Excel spreadsheet to import the results.
Advanced Topics
There are several additional supported scenarios:
- Reframing the image/video
If the buoys move or a dragon boat leaves the view frame, you may need to resize it. - Using the Measure Tool for obscured finishes
If the nose of the dragon boat is hidden by another dragon boat, you can use the Measure tool to create a secondary finish line. Enable the tool by tapping on the checkbox, then move the hidden boat to the approximate finish frame. Look for a visible landmark close to the dragon boat head (e.g., back of caller's chair). Frame forwards or backwards until both the nose and visible landmark are visible. Use the tool to measure this distance. A new red finish line will appear. Move to the frame where the visible landmark crosses the new red finish line. - Calibrate the gun clock
If the gun was missed, there are many ways to set the start time of the race, using the Calibrate buttons on the lower left side. You can set the gun to this or another video. You can set the first (or other) place time manually using the Rank 1/combo box on the top of the screen. You can set the Time Code in the upper right edit control. - Set penalties
If a team has a penalty (or DNS/DNF/DQ), you can press the checkmark under the team name, bringing up a popup window. Tapping the Disqual button cycles through DNS, DNF, DQ, and normal. You can also enter a time penalty. - Reload Heats for advancements
After Excel has calculated and exported advancements, tap Reload Heats in the upper left corner to load the new team info.