Help for Presentations of WSQS

Information and Instructions
for Running the Audio-Visual Lecture Notes

Networking Requirements	Software Requirements	Hardware Requirements
Installation	Start	Presentation Elements

List of Presentations

This page attempts to answer questions regarding the audio-visual lecture notes of the Euro Winter School "Quantum Simulations of Complex Many-Body Systems: From Theory to Algorithms". The lecture notes are available on DVD and in the internet. For questions or error reports please contact wsqs@fz-juelich.de.

Networking Requirements

For viewing the lectures over the internet (http://www.fz-juelich.de/video/wsqs/) you need a bandwidth of at least 500 kbps to the German science network G-WIN. Depending on your connection speed the transfer will take a while for buffering the first seconds of the video and after jumping within the presentation.

Software Requirements

The presentation is based on HTML and the multimedia description language SMIL (external link) with extensions for the RealPlayer software from RealNetworks.

The preferred viewer for Windows is the RealOne Player, for Linux and some other Unix systems, you need RealPlayer Version 8. This software is included on the DVD. You can also download it directly from RealNetworks for free (external link).

For viewing the HTML pages you may use most of the current browsers. For nicer appearance the browser should be able to interpret Cascading Style Sheets 1.0. As Netscape sometimes has problems with relative path names, we recommend the Internet Explorer for Windows and the Konqueror for Linux.

The text version of the lecture notes can be viewed with the Acrobat Reader (external link).

The presentation has been tested under Windows 98 and above, and Linux. It should also run on all other platforms where the above software is available. Under Linux the image formation takes longer and the font is not as smooth as under Windows.

Hardware Requirements

There are no special requirements as to the processor performance and main memory size. On computers with a clock speed below 400 MHz the video will not run smoothly and the synchronization of video, audio, slides, and text may not be perfect.

For audio you need a sound card and loudspeaker. Of course, the DVD is playable only on computers with a DVD device.

The presentation is optimized for a monitor resolution of 1024 by 768 pixels. If the Windows taskbar does not disappear automatically there is not enough screen space for optimal viewing.

Installation

An installation of the presentation is not necessary. You can play it directly from DVD or via internet (if the bandwidth is sufficient). You only have to install the RealPlayer and a browser if you have not already done so. For installation of external products follow the installation instructions of the software (see also Software Requirements).

Start

The presentation starts with index.html. From the list of presentations you can reach all lectures by clicking on their titles. Clicking on the face of a lecturer will open a window with personal data of this person. The presentation and control elements are explained under Presentation Elements.

When you first start the RealOne Player you should unlink the player and the browser by activating the button between these windows.
The best quality is reached, if you select "1x" from in the player window for scaling up the window to 100 percent.

For smooth fonts under Windows you can activate "Smooth Screen Fonts" for the display properties.

If a lecture does not start by clicking on the title in the presentation list you can link the data type SMIL with the ending .smi to the RealPlayer or you can open the lecture directly with the RealPlayer (Ctrl-O) by choosing index.smi in the folder of the lecturer's name.

Presentation Elements

The two following screenshots show typical display segmentations. The first one is used for slides in landscape format and the second one for portrait format or slides with changing orientation.

Control elements and display areas:

	Title of the lecture, the lecturer's name and affiliation, date and duration of the talk.
	By clicking on "Lecture Notes" or "Personal Data", separate pages will pop up with the lecture notes (PDF format, Acrobat Reader is needed, external link) and with additional personal information on the lecturer.
	In the video region the lecturer is shown.
	This area shows the slides of the presentation, synchronized with the talk. Relevant animations will be shown here likewise. If you select the "Transparency Overview" in region 7, this area shows a collection of iconized slides. Clicking on a specific slide will take you to the point in the lecture where this slide is discussed.

	UP: Link to the parent page, from where you can move to the other lectures. On DVD the current presentation will pause. If you want to resume it you have to click on the PLAY button .
	PLAY: If the presentation is paused or stopped you can resume it with this button.
	PAUSE: With this button you can pause the presentation for example when you want to study the current slide in more detail. To resume the presentation you have to press the PLAY button .
	HELP: Clicking on this button will show this help page. The presentation will continue.
	In this area you may reach all subtopics of the talk and most slides of the presentation. For jumping to a specific point of the lecture you have to click on the subtopic or the slide number within the subtopic. The current slide and subtopic are shown in black. If there is a large number of slides only a link to a range of foils is offered (e.g. "5-8").
	Below the summary you find the pointer "Transparency Overview" together with several ranges of slides. In the thumbnail view you can jump to the point in the lecture where the selected slide is discussed.
	The RealPlayer software offers these tools for navigation and control. For detailed information please refer to the help pages of the player itself.