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Newsletter: September 2005

News | Technical Support | Coaches Corner | Case Study | Product Updates

Welcome to this month's edition of the Sportstec newsletter.

Sportstec recently celebrated its 5th year of operation. We are a young company by any standard, but we have seen significant growth and changes in this short time period. Everyday I am personally invigorated with the exciting new advancements in our products and our customers application of them.

Our staff get a real thrill from seeing finalists in championship events that are Sportstec customers, the recent AFL (Aussie Rules) final was Sportstec user versus Sportstec user. Around the world this is becoming a regular event.

We continue to thank our customers for their commitment to our products.

Regards,
Philip Jackson, Managing Director

In this months issue:

News

To get a sneak preview at SportsCode 6.0 click here.

Technical Support

This month we look at a collection of FAQ’s. To read more click here.

Coach’s corner

Did you know that you can use graphics as buttons within your SportsCode Code Input Windows? This month we look at how Images can add clarity and another level of depth to your coding. Click here to read and learn more.

Case Study

Hockey Australia was the first ever SportsCode customer. Since those early days, Hockey Australia has embraced the on-going range of innovative information gathering offered by SportsCode across the board with its national men’s and women’s teams and all state teams using the product. To read more click here.

Product Updates

To find the latest available versions of all Sportstec products click here.

Sportstec News

September has been an exciting month as we everyone at Sportstec has been working around the clock to deliver ‘SportsCode 6’. This greatly anticipated upgrade will available for distribution next month.

Here’s a sneak preview as to what you can expect:

To find out more about how you can get your hands on this great upgrade contact your local Sportstec representative.

Technical Support

Hot Tips for SportsCode Suite

(Please note all of these tips are based on running SportsCode on Tiger OS)

Q: My SportsCode system is asking me to insert a SuperPro dongle, but I have online registration. What do I do?

A: Hold down the ESCAPE key while launching SportsCode. You will then be prompted to change you registration method, choose Online.

HOT TIP: Always deregister your sportsCode system before doing any maintenance on your computer.

Q:How to find where your online codes are registered?

A: Many of our users move license codes from computer to computer. Through this swapping process, codes can be lost. To find out what codes are registered where, use the System Information feature under the SportsCode drop down menu (next to the blue apple in the upper-left hand corner of your screen).

This output window gives lots of information about your system. You will find the code that is registered at the top of the list in this window.

Q: What are the differences between Quicktime 7 and 6 compress movie options?

A: If you have upgraded to Quicktime 7, you will notice some differences in the window layout when converting movies. The main is the way in which you set the data rate. QT 7 sets the data rate in kbits/sec where QT 6 set the data rate in KBs/sec. So, 6400 kbits/sec equals 800 KBs/sec. By dividing kbits by 8, we can figure out what the data rate is in KBs/sec.

Q: How do I create a CD of compressed movies?

A:In SportsCode select the instances you want to burn to CD. Go to ‘File - Convert Movie’ (or in SportsCode 6.0: ‘File – Export – Convert Movie’), select your favourite QuickTime compressor and settings.

We recommend using MPEG-4 limiting the data rate to 6400 kbits/sec or lower. This is a widely used compression format that will give you great compatibility across operating systems and applications. (Please note: If the data rate is set at 6400 kbits/sec, you will be able to fit 11 minutes on a 650MB CD.)

Insert a blank CD into your computer. We recommend using a CD-R, a very compatible medium when crossing platforms and hardware types. If Finder asks you to choose an action, choose “Open in Finder”.

You can also go to system preferences and set this up to be the default action. Go to ‘System Preferences - Hardware – CDs & DVDs).

An Untitled CD image will appear on the desktop. Simply drag and drop the converted movies onto this image.

Once all movies are copied to the CD. Drag the image onto the trash can in the dock. The trash can icon will change into a Burn symbol.
You will be prompted to name the CD, then click burn.

Q: How do I paste video snapshots with drawings into a scouting report?

A:Open an instance movie and drag the play head to the frame of video you want to copy into your scouting report.

Draw on the video using the drawing tools in SportsCode.

Once satisfied with the drawing, use the snapshot feature of the Mac OS X by pressing the APPLE+CTRL+SHIFT+4 keys together. Your mouse pointer will turn into a cross hair.

Capture the frame by clicking and dragging from the upper left corner of the video window to the lower right corner of the window. Once you let go, you will hear a camera shutter sound. This means the picture has been copied to the clipboard and is ready to be pasted in your scouting report.

Select your scouting report in your favorite word processor, press the APPLE+V keys to paste in the picture.

Q:How do I Zoom in on an image?

A:A useful feature in Mac OS X. Is the Zoom feature. This feature allows you to zoom the screen in an out.

To toggle Zoom feature off or on, press the APPLE/OPTION/8 keys at the same time.

To Zoom the screen in press the keys, APPLE/OPTION/+. To Zoom it out, press APPLE/OPTION/-.

The zooming feature centers itself around the mouse pointer, so you may have to move the mouse to find your video.

Coaches Corner

Create Graphics Based Code Input Windows In A Few Easy Steps

One of the great features of the Code Input window is the ability to import graphics to use as code, text, or title buttons.

The quick way to create graphical buttons is to use the Mac OS X snapshot feature. By pressing the ‘APPLE + CTRL + SHIFT + 4’ keys together you can grab a snapshot of a picture you want to use as a button.

E.g. you want to use a picture of an athlete as a button to code their actions. Open a digital picture of them on your desktop, grab a snap shot using the ‘APPLE + CTRL + SHIFT + 4’, then press APPLE+V to paste this picture into a code input window.

If you wish to quickly resize the image, open it in ‘Preview’, use the zoom feature to change the size of the picture. Now grab a snapshot and paste it into your Code Input window.

Photoshop and SportsCode

Many of our customers use Adobe Photoshop to create amazingly powerful code input windows. Here are a few things we have seen while on the road with our customers.

Tired of rectangular buttons? Use Adobe Photoshop’s powerful selection tools to copy and paste different shaped pictures into your Code Input window. Here is an example of an elliptical shaped button.

Open the image in Photoshop. From the toolbar select the elliptical marquee tool and select the area of the picture for which you want to create a button.

Your marquee tool maybe set to Rectangular . To change this, hold the click down on the button to change it to the Elliptical.

Copy the selection to the clipboard by pressing ‘APPLE+C’.

Switch to your Code Input window in SportsCode and paste the selection into the window by pressing ‘APPLE+V’.

Note:If you are working in multiple layers, be sure to Flatten Image. This feature can be found under the Layers drop-down menu along the top of the screen in Photoshop.

If you are familiar with Photoshop, try using the Magic Wand tool or Lasso tools to select different shapes in the picture. I used these features to create field zone buttons for a field hockey field.

Here is how you can do it:
Draw a field using the line and shape tools in Photoshop ., , . When drawing white lines, set the RGB color values to 255,255,254. This will ensure that you will not have invisible parts to your picture in your Code Input window.

Flatten the image and select all by pressing the ‘APPLE+A’ keys.

Press APPLE+C to copy the image to the clipboard.

Open your Code Input window in SportsCode and press ‘APPLE+V’. This will paste the field into the window. This will be our background, so change the button properties to a Title button, lock it in place, and turn off any indicators.

We will now create the individual parts of the field as buttons. In Photoshop, select the Polygon Lasso tool, and click around the perimeter of an area of the field you want to make a button. You can try using the Magnetic Lasso or Magic Wand to make your selections too. Once you have made a selection. Press APPLE+C to copy the selection to the clipboard.

Paste the selection in your Code Input window, APPLE+V. Move the button over the field title button so that it lines up with the background. This makes it seamless.

Continue selecting each part of the field in Photoshop and paste it into your Code input window.

Hints:

The Code Input window works in layers. So, if something is behind another button, press CTRL+CLICK on that button and change its layer position by selecting from the drop-down choices to move it forward or to the front most layer.
Open the Edit Button Properties window for a button, select all the buttons in the code input window by pressing APPLE+A, then check the Lock Position tick box. Now, CTRL+CLICK on the Lock Position tick box text and select Apply to Selected Buttons from the drop-down menu. This will lock all the selected buttons at once.
If you notice that your buttons have jagged edges or missing parts in the middle of the button, this is because pure white does show up in the Code Input window. So, there are certain pixels of pure white, RGB values (255,255,255), in your image. You will need an image editor like Photoshop to replace all pixels with this color value.

Case Study

Hockey Australia - Jeremy Davy

It is no coincidence that Australia’s outstanding success in men’s and women’s hockey over the past decade has gone hand-in-hand with the development of sports technology and SportsCode in particular. Hockey Australia was one of the early pioneers in the field of technology playing a more prominent role in sports analysis when a mutual interest between Don Prior – an international umpire and software developer – and national men’s coach at the time Terry Walsh played a pivotal role in the initial development of SportsCode between 1996-2000.

Since those early days, Hockey Australia has embraced the on-going range of innovative information gathering offered by SportsCode across the board with its national men’s and women’s teams and all state teams using the product. This communal access throughout hockey has proved extremely beneficial.

"Primarily, it allows the direct transfer of accurate information to occur from the national programme to the training network,’’ video analyst for the Australia men’s team, Jeremy Davy said. "Therefore our coaches in each location can work with exactly the same information as the national coaches, especially where their own players are concerned. This also gives them firsthand footage of our national team and is mostly done by swapping external hard drives, making it very easy to move large data files around.’’

Interaction and the sharing of information provided by SportsCode are common between the national teams and this co-operation will occur more in the future with the state teams, providing a unique common element in growing the overall development and depth of the sport. Hockey uses a variety of the many applications offered by the system with the primary focus being review analysis.

"It is used to systematically index each event that occurs, where in the field and by whom,’’ Davy said. "We cover every other game per tournament. We make use of the live replay feature, the matrix is very powerful and databasing is extensively used to grab the rich material from all that we capture.’’

The continued success of Australian hockey teams on the international scene is testament to the technical information gathered and how it has been used to keep ahead of the chasing pack. The men’s team won the gold medal at the Athens Olympics and has been the most consistent performing team over all Olympic team events. In major competitions, such as the Olympics, the aim is to make use of SportsCode’s variety of features, enabling the coach and team to be in the best position to face all scenarios.

"The best one within a game is the live replay and making sure the coaches have access to this to assist in their decisions,’’ Davy said. "Secondly, giving the playing group the best chance to view the gathered information is also very important. We have eight platforms available to the group on each tour, shared by a mobile server.

"Each tournament brings a slightly new focus and refinement, the edge is always being pushed a little further not only by ourselves but also by the teams we compete against. You can gather infinite information but the greatest improvements are in what you gather and how you relate it. Likewise, our network also drives many innovations in how they gather and use the information. Like players and coaches on the field, no one likes to stand still.’’

Davy said while it still up to the players and coaches to execute skills and tactics during a game, information in sport is now as integral as it is to any other part of the communication age.

"Many elite levels of sport make use of analysis software and the many other scientific items that are available to improve performance,’’ he said. "Information on opponents we have played or are yet to play is now expected and the good/smart use of this information can make considerable differences to performance.

"I think software packages are always evolving and refining what they offer. We are extremely pleased with SportsCode for the many features it offers and the ease with which we are able to use them. It is certainly the most integral part of our performance review that we carry.’’