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OPCENTER BASICS

INSTALLING OPCENTER 

System Requirements

Running the 3VR Client Application Wizard

SIGNING IN

You sign in to the appliance you want. 

Signing into OpCenter

Follow these steps to sign in to OpCenter.

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Enterprise OpCenter | Selecting a VMS Server

Customers with multiple VMS servers connected to an Enterprise server will be prompted to select a system to connect to upon signing in to OpCenter.

1. In a Multi-Enterprise environment, select the Enterprise server of interest from the Appliance drop-down menu. To log into a standalone Enterprise server, log into the Enterprise sever of interest.
   
   
2. Browse through the VMS server tree to locate the server of interest, or type the first few characters of the VMS server name to filter.

3. Select the VMS server to connect to and click Connect.
   

   Note
   In a Multi-Enterprise environment, if the user attempts to log in to an Enterprise Server at a higher level than the user is authorized to log into, OpCenter displays the Enterprise server(s) the user is authorized to connect to.

   
   

Managing the VMS Server List

When signing in to a 3VR Client Application for the first time, you must type the IP address of a system to connect in the Appliance box. After you have successfully connected to the VMS server, its IP address and host name will be remembered by the application for future reference. You may view the list of VMS servers and manually add or remove addresses from the Edit Connect List dialog, accessed with the following steps:

1. At the sign in screen, click the drop-down arrow next to Appliance.
   
2. Select Edit Connect List.

Viewing the Appliance List

• Click Show all appliances to display all VMS servers that you have connected to in the past.
  
• Click Show only enterprise appliances to display only Enterprise servers.

Manually adding a VMS Server to a list

1. Click Add to add a new VMS server to the list.

2. Type the IP address of the server in the Host Name or IP Address box.

   Note
   The system’s display name will be retrieved after you connect to the VMS server for the first time.

   
   

3. Click Save.
4. Repeat steps 1-3 to add additional VMS servers. 
5. When you are finished adding VMS servers, select the server to connect to from the list, and then click Close to return to the sign in screen.

Editing or Removing a Saved VMS Server

To edit the IP address of a VMS server or remove it from the connect list:

1. Select the VMS server to be modified.
   
   • To change the IP address associated with the server, click Edit. Type a new IP address, and then click Save.
   • To remove it from the list, click Remove.
2. When you are finished, click Close to return to the sign in screen.

Finding VMS Servers on the Local Network

Use the following steps to find and connect to VMS servers on the local network:

1. Click Find Local Appliance.
2. If any VMS servers are found, their IP addresses will populate in the lower box.
   
3. Click a VMS server from the list to select it, and then click Connect.

OPCenter Overview

This section describes the panels you can use to watch live and stored video and use other OpCenter features.

OpCenter Panel Layout

Video Panel
Use the Video panel to watch live and stored video. You can view one camera at a time or watch multiple cameras simultaneously. The Views feature allows you to save frequent camera arrangements for quick reference.

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Resizing and Closing OpCenter

You can minimize and maximize 3VR OpCenter in the same way as any other Windows application using the controls in the upper-right corner.

• To close OpCenter, click the X button
• To customize the size of the OpCenter window, click and drag any edge of the window until it has reached the desired size
  
• Click and drag a corner of the window to resize the window vertically and horizontally at the same time.

Enterprise OpCenter | Switching Between VMS Servers after Sign In

Immediately after signing in to Enterprise OpCenter, you select the initial VMS server to connect to from the appliance selector. Thereafter, the active VMS server is displayed in the status bar in the top-right corner of OpCenter.

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1. Click the 3VR button in the top-left corner of the application and select Connect to Appliance from the menu.
   
2. When the appliance selector loads, select a new VMS server from the list, and
   then click Connect.

OPCENTER ADMINISTRATION

This section describes how to change your 3VR password, enter your company name, and perform other OpCenter administrative tasks.

Changing your 3VR Password

You can change the password you use to sign in to OpCenter and other 3VR Client Applications with the following steps:

1. Click the 3VR button in the top-left corner of the application and select Change Password from the menu.
2. In the Change Password dialog box, type a new password in the New password and Retype new password boxes.
3. Click OK to change your password.

Setting the Company Name

Use these steps to enter your company name in OpCenter settings. Entering a company name will help 3VR identify your PC and VMS server when providing technical support.

1. Click the 3VR button in the top-left corner of the application and select Edit Preferences from the menu.
   
2. The OpCenter Preferences dialog box opens to the General page. Type the name of your company in the Company Name box.
3. Click OK.

Resetting OpCenter to Default Settings

You can use the OpCenter Preferences dialog box to reset OpCenter to its default settings:

1. Click the 3VR button in the top-left corner of the application and select Edit Preferences from the menu.
2. In the OpCenter Preferences dialog box, click the Application page. Select the settings to reset:
   
   
   1. Reset 3VR System Cache
      • Clears the OpCenter Sign In screen, including the list of previously accessed VMS servers.
   2. Reset Preferences
      • Resets all settings in the Preferences dialog to their defaults
      • Clears currently selected options in the Video and Monitor panels
3. Click OK.
   
4. In the pop-up dialog box that appears, click Yes to continue and OpCenter closes.

Viewing and Copying VMS Server Information

In the course of troubleshooting, 3VR Technical Support, your re-seller, or your internal IT staff may request information about the VMS server you are connected to in OpCenter. You can view and copy VMS server information to the Windows clipboard by performing the following steps:

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VIDEO PANEL

Getting Started with the Video Panel

The first time you launch OpCenter on a PC, the application loads the Video panel. The panel contains a single blank video player, as you haven't yet selected any cameras.

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Live video from the camera streams in the player.

Customizing the Video Panel

You can use the Video panel to control cameras and views.

Changing the Number and Size of Video Players

The layout selector at the top of the Video panel controls the number and arrangement of video players.

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Adding and Removing Cameras

You can specify the cameras displayed in the Video player in a number of ways.

Adding Cameras With Drag and Drop

You can drag and drop the following items from the camera tree to the video players:

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• A VMS server (loads all cameras on the VMS server)

Adding Cameras With Right-Click Menus

You can select cameras using right-click menu options.

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• To load all cameras connected to a VMS server, right-click the VMS server and select Add all cameras in "[VMS Server Name]".

Removing Cameras

There are several ways to stop streaming a camera that is currently playing in the Video panel:

1. To remove a specific camera, right-click the video player and select Remove "[Camera Name]".
2. To remove all cameras belonging to a camera group, right-click the group in the camera tree and
   select Remove all cameras in "[Group Name]".
3. To remove all cameras from a specific VMS server, right-click the VMS server in the camera tree and select Remove all cameras in "[VMS Server Name]".
4. To remove all currently selected cameras:
   1. Right-click anywhere in the camera tree or video player grid and select Clear All.
      

      

   2. Another way to clear all selected cameras is to click the Clear All button, located to the left of the layout selector.

Camera Views

The camera views feature of the Video panel allows you to save a given layout and selection of cameras for later use.

Saving a New Camera View

To save the current layout as a view:

1. In the camera tree, right-click the Camera Views folder.
2. Select Save View.
   
3. In the Save View dialog box, type a name for the view in the View Name box.
4. If desired, select [ ]Save as shared view to make this view accessible to all users.
5. Click Save.

Loading a Saved View

To switch the layout of the Video panel to a saved view:

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Deleting a Saved View

To delete a saved view:

1. Click the plus sign next to Camera Views, and then click the plus sign next to My Views or Shared Views to display the saved views.
2. Right-click the view to delete and click Delete "[View Name]".
3. In the pop-up dialog box, click Yes to confirm that the view will be permanently deleted.

Camera Overlays

If you would like to display information about the camera on top of each video player, change the camera overlays by performing the following steps:

1. Right-click anywhere in the video grid.
   
   
2. Select Overlays >, and then choose an overlay from the sub menu. The current overlay options are:
   
   • No Overlay
   • Camera Number
   • Camera Number/Name
   • Appliance and Camera Number/Name

   • Show Event Data

     Note
     Certain types of events have the ability to generate event data overlays: a stream of data placed on top of live or stored video. Choose Show Event Data to show this data on events throughout OpCenter. You may select Show Event Data in addition to any other overlay option on the menu.

     
     

3. By default, camera overlays are placed in the top-left corner of each video player. If desired, you can re-position the overlay by clicking and dragging the overlay box.

4. By default, camera overlays are placed in the top-left corner of each video player. If desired, you can re-position the overlay by clicking and dragging the overlay box.

Showing or Hiding the Video Timeline and Camera Tree

You can hide from view both the camera tree and the video timeline.

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To re-display the timeline and/or camera tree, click the arrows again.

Switching to Full Screen Mode

Switching the Video panel to full screen mode displays the selected cameras at maximum resolution.

1. To switch to full screen mode, click the full screen button (located above and to the right of the video player grid). The Video panel displays in full screen mode.
   
2. There are two ways to exit full screen mode:
   • Move the mouse to the top of the screen to display the title bar, and then click the X in the top-right corner.
   • Press the escape key on your keyboard (Esc).

Video Playback Options

Two settings in the OpCenter Preferences dialog box control the way live and stored video streams in the Video panel.

To access this dialog box, click the 3VR button and select Edit Preferences from the menu.

Stored Video Fidelity Mode

When bandwidth is limited, video playback may lag into slow motion as OpCenter attempts to download and display each frame over a slow connection.

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• Click Show every frame if bandwidth is adequate for all frames to be displayed without lagging.
  
• Click Drop frames as necessary for optimal playback in low-bandwidth environments. OpCenter will drop frames as needed to keep up with regular speed playback, resulting in choppier video when bandwidth is limited.

Live Video Alternate Streams

Enabling alternate streams allows you to optimize live video streaming in low-bandwidth environments by reducing the bandwidth required for live video, while preserving the quality of the video stored to disk.

When the box next to [ ]Enable alternate streams is checked, OpCenter displays live video using the alternate stream, if supported by the hardware. The configuration of the alternate stream depends on the type of camera:

Analog cameras

Check the box next to [ ]Enable alternate streams to use the alternate stream for analog video, if available.

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IP Cameras

If an IP camera supports an alternate stream, the following settings appear in the camera settings in 3VR System Manager:

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Edit these settings to enable and configure the alternate stream, and then check the box next to [ ]Enable alternate streams to use the alternate stream in OpCenter.

Viewing Live and Stored Videos

By default, the timeline control across the top of the Video panel displays a 30-minute time range. The time when the video you are viewing took place is overlaid on the timeline in the scrolling time slider.

Live Video

When the Video panel loads, the selected cameras begins streaming live video. When video is live, the
time slider displays the current time, and the slider moves forward along the timeline in real time.

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Stored Video

You can play back stored video in the Video panel in the following ways:

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PTZ Camera Controls

You can use PTZ camera modes to PTZ modify camera views.

Overview

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Compass Mode

To change the camera’s field of view using compass mode:

1. Click the compass icon in the lower-left corner of the video player to select compass mode.
2. Click the chevrons in the compass to move the camera in that direction. The size of the chevron corresponds to the panning distance:
3. Click the innermost chevron to move the camera a short distance.
   
                                
   
   
   • Click the middle chevron to move the camera an intermediate distance
   • Click the outermost chevron to move the camera a larger distance
4. Click and hold the mouse on any chevron to move continuously in the indicated direction. Click and hold down the innermost chevron to move the camera more slowly than the outermost chevron.
5. Use the slider bar along the left-hand side of the video player to zoom in and out.

Click to Center Mode

To change the camera’s field of view using click to center mode:

1. Click the square icon in the lower-left corner of the video player to select click to center mode.
2. To re-center the camera view, click the mouse anywhere in the video player to center the camera on that point.
   • To tilt the camera up or down, use the slider bar on the right-hand side of the video player.
   • To pan left or right, use the slider bar along the bottom of the video player.
3. To zoom in or out, use one of the following options:
   • Use the slider bar along the left-hand side of the video player.
   • Click and drag the mouse to draw a box around a region of interest. The camera zooms in on the region.

Joystick Mode

To change the camera’s field of view using joystick mode:

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• To move slowly, click and hold closer to the cross hairs.
• To move quickly, click and hold the mouse at a greater distance from the cross hairs.
• To zoom in or out, use the slider bar along the left-hand side of the video player.

Preset Views

Selecting a Preset View

To move the camera to an existing preset view:

1. Click Presets to display the presets menu.
2. Select the preset view you wish to load.
   

Saving a New Preset View

To save a new preset view:

1. Use click-to-center, compass, or joystick mode to move to the desired camera view.
2. Click Presets to display the presets menu.
3. Click Add Current View.
4. Type the name of the new view in the pop-up dialog box.
5. Click Save to save the new view.

Editing a Saved Preset View

To modify or delete a preset view:

1. Click Presets to display the presets menu.
2. Click Edit Views.
3. In the Edit Views window, select the name of the preset view to modify:
   • To rename the preset view, type a new name for the view in the Name box, and then click Save.
   • To set the current view as the default view for this camera, select [ ]Set as Home Preset, and then click Save.
   • To delete the view, click Delete
4. Click Close to return to the Video panel.

Tours

Viewing a Saved Tour

To load a PTZ tour:

1. Click Presets to display the presets menu.

2. Click the name of the tour you wish to view.

   Info
   The tour will continuously loop until manually stopped. To stop the tour at any time, click the Click here to stop tour playback text at the top of the video player.

   
   

3. To resume the tour, select the tour from the presets menu.

Recording a New Tour

To save a new PTZ tour:

1. Click Presets to display the presets menu.
2.  Click Record New Tour.
3. Record your tour using the PTZ controls to change the camera view as desired.
4. When you are finished recording the tour, click the Click here to stop recording text at the top of the video player.
5. Type a name for the new tour in the pop-up window.
6. Click Save to save the tour.

Renaming or Deleting a Tour

To modify an existing PTZ tour:

1. Click Presets to display the presets menu.
2. Click Edit Tours.
3. In the Edit Tours dialog box, select the name of the tour to modify:
   • To rename, edit the name and click Save.
   • To delete, click Delete.
4. Click Close to return to the Video panel.

PTZ Camera Focus and Iris Control

Some PTZ camera models allow for increased control over focus and brightness. For these cameras, you can click the Manual Focus Control or Manual Iris Control button at the bottom of the video player to display a slider bar to adjust focus or the size of the iris.

Manual Focus Control

By default, auto-focus is enabled for all PTZ cameras. To manually control focus:

1. Click the Focus Controls button at the bottom of the video player.
   • To focus on objects nearer than the current focal point, click N, or move the slider bar to the left.
   • To focus on objects past the current focal point, click ∞ or move the slider bar to the right.
2. To resume automatic focusing, click the Focus Controls button again.

Manual Iris Control

By default, brightness is automatically adjusted for all PTZ cameras. To manually control brightness:

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1. Right-click on the image in the video player. A menu pops up and shows the available view types for the camera.
2. Select the desired view type from the View Type sub menu. Most view types display in the video player. However, the Panorama view type displays all the available view types for the camera in a separate, Panorama Viewer window, shown below. (Labels identify the view types shown in the sample image below.)
   

About the Panorama Viewer

The Panorama viewer presents a simplified version of the Video panel. See "Viewing Live and Stored Video"  for information.

View Options

Certain view options are available for certain cameras. The available view options depend on the camera in use.

Panning

With certain cameras, you can pan the camera view. With some cameras, you click in the view and drag in the direction you want to pan. In addition, on certain cameras, in the Single (1-Up) view, an overlay appears on the image to show you the field of view displayed.

Audio Playback

The OpCenter Video panel supports both live and recorded audio streaming.

Audio must be enabled and configured in 3VR System Manager in order for audio controls to be available for a camera that supports audio. See the 3VR VisionPoint VMS Installation and Configuration Guide for 3VR Appliances for information.

Starting and Stopping Audio

Only one audio camera may be streamed at a time. Use one of the following steps to start or stop audio playback.

1. If the camera is not already playing video, bring it up in the video grid using one of the options in Adding and Removing Cameras.
2. Start streaming with one of the following steps:
   1. Right-click the camera video feed in the video grid and select Play Audio on "[Camera Name]"
   2. Right-click the camera name in the camera tree and select Play Audio on "[Camera Name]"
      
      
      
3. Stop streaming with one of the following steps:
   1. Right-click the camera video feed in the video player and select Stop Audio on "[Camera Name]"
   2. Right-click the camera name in the camera tree and select Stop Audio on "[Camera Name]"

Controlling Volume

Controlling Volume in OpCenter

When you select an audio camera in the Video panel, the video toolbar is displayed on top of the video player. This toolbar contains the volume control for audio, as well as the camera's PTZ controls (if applicable).

To adjust the volume of audio playback for a camera, move the mouse over the speaker icon to display the volume slider bar and drag the bar right to increase the volume or left to decrease the volume.

Muting Audio Playback

• To mute audio, click the speaker icon. An x appears next to the speaker to indicate that audio is muted.
• To restore audio, click the speaker icon again

Controlling Volume in Windows

To raise or lower the volume of audio playback for all audio channels, adjust the volume of your PC with the following steps:

1. Click the speaker icon in the Windows task bar notification area.
2. Click and drag the slider bar up or down to adjust the volume.

Auto-Hide Video Toolbar

By default, the video toolbar is placed at the bottom of each video player, overlaying the video feed. If desired, you may configure OpCenter to auto-hide the toolbar when the video player does not have mouse focus.

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1. From the OpCenter Video panel, click the Options button.
2. Check the box next to Auto-hide video toolbar.
3. Click OK to save your changes.

Digital Zoom

3VR OpCenter features the ability to zoom in on a region of interest in the camera video feed. This “digital zoom” feature adds PTZ-like functionality to fixed analog and IP cameras.

Entering Zoom Mode

You can zoom in on both live and stored video. There are two ways enter zoom mode:

Zooming with the Mouse Scroll Wheel

• Click the video player to center the zoom, and then use your mouse’s scroll wheel to zoom in and out.

Zooming While Holding the Ctrl Key

• While holding the Ctrl key, click and drag the mouse over the video feed to draw a box over the region of interest. Release the mouse button to zoom in on the region. 

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Shifting the Zoomed Changes

When a video player is in zoom mode, a zoom inset appears in the bottom-left corner of the video player. The zoom inset contains a white box representing the current zoom level.

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You can also nudge the zoomed region up, down, left, or right using the arrow keys on your keyboard.

Exiting Zoom Mode

You can exit zoom mode in one of two ways:

• Double-click the zoomed video player (or) press the escape key (Esc) in your keyboard

Opening a Second Video Panel

The OpCenter Video panel supports a maximum of 36 video players on-screen at one time. However, you may open a second instance of the Video panel to display additional cameras on a secondary monitor.

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Panoramic Stitching

The Stitched Video Viewer allows you to choose up to four cameras and arrange the video feeds into one seamless view. Although you may use any cameras in a stitched view, this feature is most useful for panoramic cameras with multiple lenses.

Creating a New Stitched View

1. To open the Stitched Video Viewer, click Stitched Video.
   
2. In the Stitched Video Viewer, click Edit.
3. When you are in Edit mode, the camera tree appears on the left of the video players.
4. Select a camera for each player by dragging and dropping the camera name on to the player (or using one of the other methods for selecting cameras; see Adding and Removing Cameras section in this chapter for more details).
   
5. After you are finished selecting cameras, click and drag the video players to re-position them. To change the layering of the video players, use the Send to Back and Bring to Front buttons.
6. To save the stitched view, click the Save button.
7. Enter a name for the stitched view in the Name text box, and then click Save.

Loading a Saved Stitched View

1. In the Stitched Video Viewer, click the Select Stitched View drop-down menu.
   
2. Select one of the saved stitched views to load it.
3. To zoom in on a stitched view, click the video feed.
4. A purple zoom box appears. Move the zoom box to the region of interest to zoom.
   

Exporting Video and Images from Video Panel

You can export video from selected cameras and export single frames as images.

Exporting Video

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Saving a Single Frame as an Image

Use the following steps to save a single frame as an image from stored video to your computer or an external drive:

1. Click the pause button to pause playback on the frame of interest.
   
2. Right-click the paused video player and select Save Image.
3. Select the directory or drive where you wish to save the image file.
4. Edit the file name if desired.
5. Click Save to save the image.

Schedule Video Export

In some situations where bandwidth becomes a constraint, especially during peak business hours, exporting a video can take a long time and also slow down the network. You can use the Schedule Export feature in these situations to schedule video export from specified channels. This allows exports to take place during off-peak hours without requiring the OpCenter application to be running.

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Estimate Video Size

Prior to exporting a video, you can find the approximate video export size. The process for calculating the video size is as follows:

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My Scheduled Exports

You can monitor the status of all scheduled exports through My Scheduled Exports. The My Scheduled Exports link is in the Export Video window.

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• Paused: Video export could not be finished in specified duration so it will resume the export at the same time next day.
• Uploading: Videos are being uploaded to the destination location.
• Encoding: Video is being encoded on the server for uploading.
• In Queue: If there are more than two video exports running in the system at the same time; the system will put this job in In Queue status.
• Failed: Video export failed.
• Completed: Video export has completed successfully.
• Not Supported: Appliance does not have Schedule Export feature installed.
• Connection Failed: System cannot connect to the destination location to export video.
• Not Started: Video Export has not started yet.

Email Notifications

You can send an email notification to report the status of scheduled video exports. To use this feature, you need to configure an email server address on the Appliance. In addition, you need to provide an email ID when scheduling the export. Below are examples notifications of a Successful, Paused, and Failed video export.

Successful Export

Paused Export

Failed Export

Rescheduling/Deleting Export Tasks

You can reschedule Scheduled Video Export tasks if the export's status is Not Started/Paused/Failed. You can delete tasks with the status Not Started/Paused, as well. You can change the Export Start Time and Export Duration values.

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For task with Not Started, you can change the destination folder on the Shared drive or FTP location.

MONITOR PANEL

Getting Started with the Monitor Panel

The OpCenter Monitor panel allows you to view events as they happen. You can specify which cameras to view, and what types of events are displayed.

1. Click the Monitor tab to display the Monitor panel. When you first launch OpCenter on a PC, the Monitor panel is blank, as no cameras or event types have been selected.
   
2. The camera selector (located at the top of the Monitor panel) allows you to filter events by camera or a set of cameras. Click All to view events from all cameras, or select cameras individually by clicking the camera numbers.

3. Click the arrow below the camera selector to open the event type drop-down menu. Check the box beside an event type to  display events of that type. You must select at least one event type.
   
   
   Select Events with Alerts to display only events that have triggered an alert.

   Note
   Only event types applicable for the selected cameras appear in the event type menu. See Chapter Alerts Panel for more information about alerts.

   
   

4. To view an event, click the event card. The event card turns blue, indicating it is currently selected.
   

Viewing Events

Each event captured by the 3VR system is represented in OpCenter by an event card.

Event Card Types

OpCenter labels event cards with the type of event, date and time the event card was created, and other information about the event.

3VR’s open and rapidly expanding platform permits an unlimited number of possible event types, as events can be generated by integration with external systems (e.g. transaction, access control, POS, etc.) and analytics plug-ins in addition to basic video recording. However, the following event types are available by default on all VisionPoint™ VMS servers:

Motion Event Cards

The system creates motion events when it detects movement in a camera’s field of view. All motion event cards contain the following elements in storyboard view:

• Images: each motion event card displays up to three still frames from the event.
  
• Camera number and name: the number and name of the camera that captured the motion event.
• Event start time: the time the camera first detected that motion.
• Event duration: the length of time of detected continuous motion.

Face Event Cards

The system generates a face event card when it finds a face on a camera with face recognition enabled. All face event cards contain the following elements in storyboard view:

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External Input/Alarm Event Cards

When OpCenter receives an alarm input signal from a digital I/O device connected to the 3VR appliance-, it generates an alarm event. All alarm event cards contain the following elements in storyboard view:

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Alert Event Cards

Alert events are events of any type that meet user-defined criteria for an alert, such as a targeted face or motion occurring during a certain time of day. Event cards for events that triggered an alert display a stripe at the top with the color of the alert.

Note Event Cards

Note events are events of any type to which a user has attached a note. Event cards for note events are marked with the note label.

Event Video

To view the video clip and other details of an event, click the event card.

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Event Details

When you select an event card, you can view details about the event in the event editor, located below the video player. Click the tabs in the event editor to view or edit the following properties:

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If you enable the Extra Full Face Frame feature in System Manager (see the VisionPoint VMS Installation and Configuration Guide for information),an extra frame appears in the Images pane for face events. An overlay bounding box highlights the frame of interest. This can be helpful in quickly reviewing the results of face matches (the full-frame might help in identifying what a person is carrying, for example).

Person

If VisionPoint™ VMS matched a face event to a person in, the person’s details appear in the Person pane of the event editor.
You may also create a new person from a face event from the Person pane.

Properties

You can view or edit custom fields from the Properties pane of the event editor.

Cases

Add a selected event to a case from the Cases pane of the event editor. You can add the event to an existing case or create a new case with the current event card added as the first piece of evidence.

Alerts

Events that trigger an alert show details about the alert in the Alerts pane of the event editor.

Details

Certain event types automatically generate data that appears in the Details pane of the event editor. For example, alarm events show the name of the alarm.

Changing the View Type for Images from 360-Degree Panomorph Cameras

For events captured by a 360-degree panomorph camera, you can dewarp the image by selecting various view types the camera supports. Refer 360-Degree Panomorph Camera Controls for information.

Customizing the Monitor Panel

You can change the interval for scanning events and the appearance of event cards and images, and show and hide the event editor and video player.

Changing the Time Interval

Use the time interval buttons at the top of the Monitor panel to specify the recent time frame to scan for events. You can view events generated within the last 5 minutes, 15 minutes, last 30 minutes, or 1 hour.

Changing the Appearance of Event Cards and Event Images

The event card format buttons allow you to customize the style and size of event cards. There are two event card styles, Storyboard View and Snapshot View.

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1. Click the icon for the event card style.
2. Select a size for the event cards (Small, Medium, or Large).
   

Showing or Hiding the Event Editor and Video Player

You can hide both the video player and event editor.

• Click the right-facing arrow on the left side of the event editor to hide the event editor and video player.
  
• To re-display the event editor and video player, click the arrow again.
  

Using the Camera Selector

You can view camera names and select individual cameras and work with camera groups.

Viewing Camera Names

To view a camera’s name, move the mouse over the camera number without clicking. The camera name,
number, and driver appear as a tool tip.

To view all camera names and numbers at one time, click the drop-down arrow to the right of the camera
selector. A menu appears and lists all cameras and camera groups on the VMS server.

Selecting Cameras Individually

OpCenter has two camera selection modes for selecting cameras individually, standard mode and toggle mode.

Standard Mode

In standard mode, you can click a camera number to add it to the selected cameras without removing your previous selection.

• Standard mode is the default camera selection mode in OpCenter. To return to standard mode from
  toggle mode, right-click anywhere in the camera selector and select Disable Toggle Mode.
• To select cameras in standard mode, click the camera number. The camera
  number is highlighted in blue, indicating it is currently selected.
• To deselect a selected camera in standard mode, click the camera number again.

Toggle Mode

Toggle mode allows you to easily toggle between cameras. When you click a new camera number, the previous camera is deselected.

• To switch to toggle mode from standard mode, right-click anywhere in the camera selector and choose Enable Toggle Mode from the menu that appears.
  
• To select a camera in toggle mode, click the camera number. The selected camera numbers is highlighted in blue.
• To deselect a camera in toggle mode, click a different camera number.

Selecting Multiple Cameras and Camera Group

In both toggle and standard mode, you may select or deselect all cameras at once by clicking the All or None buttons to the left of the camera selector.

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When you have finished selecting cameras, click OK.

Creating a Camera Group

Perform the following steps to create a new camera group:

1. Click the drop-down arrow to the right of the camera selector to display the camera selection menu.
2. Click Edit Camera Groups.
3. To create a new camera group, click New.
   
4. Type a name for the new camera group.
5. Select the camera numbers of the cameras to include in the camera group.
6. If this camera group should be the default camera group in OpCenter, select [ ]Default Camera Group.
7. Click Save to save the camera group.
   

Editing or Deleting a Camera Group

1. Click the drop-down arrow to the right of the camera selector to display the camera selection menu.
2. Click Edit Camera Groups.
3. To modify or delete a camera group, select the group name from the list.
   • To edit the camera group, click Edit. Modify the Name field or which cameras are included in the group, and then click Save.
   • To delete the camera group, click Delete. In the dialog box that appears, click Delete again to confirm that the group removal.
4. Click Close to close the camera selection menu.

Viewing Event Video in the Pop-Up Video Player

You can view video from an event in greater detail in the Pop-up Video Player.

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Switching to Synchronized Video

You can view video from an event synchronized with video recorded at the same time from other cameras using the Play Synchronized Video option. To do this, perform the steps below:

1. Right-click the event card and select Play Synchronized Video.
   
2. Read the resulting dialog box and click continue if your system has the appropriate bandwidth available. If not, please see the dialog box message for alternative options.
3. After clicking Continue, OpCenter switches to the Video panel and opens the event’s video.
   
4. You can then add additional cameras, change the layout and camera number, and manipulate playback using Video panel controls.
   

Viewing Live Video in the Monitor Panel

The Live Video pane of the event editor contains a single live video player, allowing you to keep an eye on one important camera while viewing event cards from a number of cameras.

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1. Select an event card, and then click the Live Video tab in the event editor.
   
   This shows the live video feed from the camera that captured the selected event.
2. When no event card is selected, or to change cameras, right-click the video player and select a different camera from the list.

Exporting Images

You can save, enhance, export, print, and email still images.

Image Quick Save

To quickly save a frame from an event as a JPG image:

• Pause event video and right-click the video player and select Save Image.
  
• Choose a destination for the image file, and then click the Save button.

Saving Images to an Event Card

Perform the following steps to save a single frame from an event video clip. The image is stored with the event and you can view it from the Images pane of the event editor.

1. Select an event card. The associated video clip begins to play back in the video player.
2. Click the pause button to pause playback.
3. Click the frame forward button until the video player is paused on the frame you wish to save.
   
4. When the video is paused, click the Save Frame button (represented by a picture icon) to save the frame as an image.
5. To view all images you saved from an event, click the Images tab of the event editor.
6. Double-click a thumbnail (or select the thumbnail and click the View Image button) to open a larger version of the image in the Image Details window.

Enhancing Images

After you save a frame from an event as an image, you can edit the image prior to exporting it using OpCenter’s built-in image editing controls. You perform image editing in the Image Details window.

1. Click an event card with associated images.
2. Click the Images tab of the event editor.
3. Double-click the thumbnail of the image you wish to edit (or select the thumbnail and click the View Image button).
4. In the Image Details window, adjust the image as necessary using the following controls:
   1. Click the Auto Levels button to auto-adjust the image brightness, contrast, and tonal range.
   2. Use the sliders below the following properties to adjust the image quality manually:
      • Lighten Shadows
      • Darken Highlights
      • Saturation
      • Contrast
      • Brightness
        
   3. If the image is too grainy, click the Smooth button one or more times.
   4. If the image lacks detail, you can add edges with the Sharpen button.

Exporting Images

After adjusting the image quality as desired (see section 8.3), export the image from the Image Details window by performing these steps:

1. Click the Copy to button.
2. In the Export Image dialog box, click the drop down arrow next to Location.
3. Select the directory or drive where you wish to save the image. To create a new sub folder, select
   [ ]Create new sub folder and type a new folder name.
4. Select [ ]Include event details in images to print information about the event as a caption on each image.
5. Click Export.
   
6. When the export completes, click Close.

Printing Images

You can print images directly from OpCenter from the Image Details window:

1. Click the Print button.
2. Type a title for the printout in the Title box.
3. Select Event details to include the event type, starting date and time, ending date and time, and camera name with the image printout. Select Notes or Alerts to print any notes or alerts associated with the event.
4. Choose which images to include on the printout: Only the Selected image or All images from the event.
5. Select Include event details in images to print information about the event as a caption on each image.
6. Enter any additional comments you wish to include on the printout.
   
7. Click Print.

Emailing Images

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1. Click Email.
2. In the Email Image dialog box, click the To button.
3. Specify the recipient(s) for the email in one of the following ways:
   • If the mail recipient is already listed in the address book, double-click the recipient to add them to the list of recipients.
   • If the mail recipient is not listed, click Add to add a new recipient to the address book. Type the recipient’s name and email address, and then click Create.
   • To send an image to a one-time recipient, simply type the email address in the To box.
4. Click Done to return to the Email Image dialog box.
   
5. Type the subject line for the email in the Subject text box.
6. Select the information you want to send along with the image:
   • Event details
   • Notes
   • Alerts
     
7. Choose which images to email: Only the Selected image or All images that have been saved to the event.
8. Select Include event details in images to print information about the event as a caption on each image.
9. Select Video to attach video from the event to the email.
10. Type any additional text to be sent in the body of the email in the Comments box.
11. Click Send.

Exporting Exports

You can export, print, and email events.

Printing Events

Perform the following steps to print a summary of an event of interest:

1. Right-click the event card and select Print.
   
2. Enter a title for the printout.
3. Select Event details to include the event type, starting date and time, ending date and time, and camera name with the event printout. Select Notes or Alerts to print any notes or alerts associated with the event.
4. Select Include event details in images to print information about the event as a caption on each image.
5. Enter any additional comments you wish to include on the printout.
6. Click Print.

Emailing Events

Perform the following steps to directly email an event from OpCenter:

1. Right-click the event card and select Email Event.
2. In the Email Event dialog box, click the To button.
3. Specify the recipient(s) for the email in one of the following ways:
   • If the mail recipient is already listed in the address book, double click the recipient to add the person to the list of recipients.
   • If the mail recipient is not listed, click Add to add a new recipient to the address book. Type the recipient’s name and email address, and then click Create.
   • To send the email to a one-time recipient, simply type the email address in the To box.
4. Click Done to return to the Email Event dialog box.
   
5. Type the subject line for the email in the Subject text box.
6. Select the information you want to send along with the email:
   • Event details
   • Notes
   • Alerts
     
7. Select Include event details in images to print information about the event as a caption on each image.
8. Select Video to attach video from the event to the email.
9. If you are emailing events captured by a camera with audio recording enabled, select Include audio if available to include audio with the attached video clip.
10. Type any additional comments to be sent in the body of the email.
11. Click Send.

Exporting Events

Exporting an event converts the event details, video, and images to a file that you can view in a web browser (Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer, Chrome, or Safari). This allows you to easily share the details of the event with law enforcement, management, or other interested parties.

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1. Select the event card to export, or hold the CTRL key and click event cards to select multiple events.
2. Right-click one of the selected event cards and select Export Event(s).
3. Click the drop-down arrow next to Location to select the directory or drive where you wish to save exported events.
4. To create a new folder for exported events, select [ ]Create new sub folder and type a new folder name.
5. Click ( )All images, video and details so that you can view images, video, and details from exported events in a web browser.
   This format is ideal for sharing with law enforcement or other investigators, and also allows you to import the exported events into another VMS server.
6. Select [ ]Include event details in images to embed details about the event in exported images.
7. If you are exporting events from a camera with audio recording enabled, select [ ]Include audio if available to include audio with the export.
8. Click Export.
   
9. When the export is complete, click Close.
10. To view the exported events, navigate to the export folder in Windows Explorer and open the 3VR_events.xml file in a web browser.

Enterprise Event Monitoring

You can monitor events from multiple appliances at the same time.

Pre-Requisites

• OpCenter Client 7.2.5.1 or later is required.

Using Enterprise Event Monitoring

You can use the Monitor pane to toggle enterprise event monitoring on and off.

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If you log out while Enterprise is checked, the configuration is saved on the active appliance, for your user name. When you log back into the same appliance with the same user name, you will see the saved configuration retained in the Monitor pane.

Limitations

• You can only select maximum of five appliances at any time. This is based on the client system’s performance and frequency of events from the appliances. If there are many events saved from the appliances, you may need to select fewer than five appliances in order to increase performance of OpCenter and also to prevent overwhelming the system.
• You cannot export events if you select events from multiple appliances.

SEARCH PANEL

Getting Started with the Search Panel

Use the Search panel to find events recorded days, weeks, or months ago.

1. To go to the Search panel, click the Search tab.
2. Define the dates, days of the week, and time ranges to search for events. For example, you can set up a search for video recorded in the past month on a Thursday evening between 6 PM and midnight.
   

3. Choose the cameras to include in the search. You must select at least one camera. Click All to select all cameras.

   Info
   Customers with an Enterprise server can search across multiple appliances on the Enterprise.

   
   

4. Check the boxes under Events to specify the event types to search. You must select at least one event type.
5. Click the Search button.
6. 3VR appliance displays events matching your criteria in the Search panel results screen.
   
7. Select an event card to view the video clip and details associated with the event.
   

Building a Search

You build a search by specifying the date and time range of interest.

Specify Date and Time Range

The first step when selecting search criteria is to specify the period of time you want to search for events.

Date Range

• To search for events occurring within a common date range, click ( )Recent and click one of the pre-defined date range buttons, such as 1 day.
  
• To search for events during a specific date range, click ( )Specify, and select a specific Start and End
  date for the search from the calendar picker.

Days

If you specify Date Range of 1 week or longer, you can restrict the search to specific days of the week.

• Click Specify and click the days to include to limit the search to specific days
  
• Leave the Days option set to Full week to search every day of the week

Time

If you specify at least one day for the Date Range, you can restrict the search to certain times of the day:

• Click Partial day to search for common time ranges like evening or working hours.
• Click Specify to specify precise hours, minutes, and seconds to search.
  
• To include all 24 hours in the search, click Full day.

Select Cameras

Use the camera selector to specify which cameras to include in the search:

• Select cameras individually by clicking each camera number.
  
• To select all cameras on the appliance, click All.
• To run the search on all cameras in a camera group, click the drop-down arrow at the end of the camera selector, and then select the camera group name.

Enterprise OpCenter | Select VMS Servers

By default, OpCenter searches for events from cameras on a single VMS server. However, when connected to Enterprise OpCenter, you can search for events across multiple VMS servers at one time by performing the following steps:

1. To search across VMS servers, select ( )Search Appliances.
2. Click the Select Appliances button.
   
3. In the VMS server tree, check the box next to each VMS server to include it in the search.
4. Click OK to return to the Search panel.
   

Select Event Types

The event selector displays the list of event types available on the VMS server (or the active VMS server, if you are connected to an Enterprise server).

Check the box next to the event type(s) to include it in the search. You must select at least one event type. The following event types are available by default on all VMS servers:

Motion Events

To search for motion events, check the box next to Motion in the event selector, and then click one of the following options:

• All motion events: returns all motion events matching the other search criteria.
  
• Specify: search for motion events that occurred within a specific part of the camera view. See section 4.2 for detailed information on searching for motion in a region.

Face Events

To search for face events, check the box next to Faces in the event selector, and then click one of the following options:

• All faces: returns all face events matching the other search criteria.
  
• Specify: search for face events similar to known people or matching people from a group. See section 4.3 for detailed information on searching for specific faces.

Alarm Events

If you connected an external alarm system to the appliance and configured the system in System Manager, alarm events are created when an alarm is triggered. To search for alarm events, check the box next to Ext. Input/Alarm in the event selector, and then click one of the following options:

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Alarm Events

Search for events that triggered an alert by checking Events with Alerts in the event selector, an then click one of the following options:

• All events with alerts: returns all events that triggered an alert matching the other search criteria.
  
• Specify: select specific alerts from the list. Only events that triggered the select alert(s) appear.

Note Events

Search for events that have notes by checking Events with Notes in the event selector, and then click one of the following options:

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Reviewing Search Criteria and Running the Search

As you build the search, the selected search criteria is added to the Search Description table on the right side of the Search panel.

When you are finished defining the search criteria, click the Search button to run the search.

Viewing Search Results

After clicking the Search button, the results of the search appear in the Search panel results screen. The look and feel of the search results screen is similar to the Monitor panel. Click an event card to open the event video and details in the event editor.

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• Click Modify Search to return to the main screen of the Search panel with your current criteria still selected. The Modify Search button keeps your search settings so you can change or fine tune them and perform the search again.
  
• Click New Search to return to the main screen of the Search panel with the search options reset to their default values.

Advanced Search Results

You can perform advanced searches. You an search for:

• Correlated events
• Motion in a region
• Specific faces

Searching for Correlated Events

One of the features of the OpCenter Search panel is correlated search — the ability to search for events of a second type occurring around the same time as events of a primary type. For example, if you are investigating a break-in, correlated search allows you to search for face events captured around the same time as an alarm event. Or, you may want to search for motion events occurring around the same time as a face event to learn more about the context of the face event.

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1. To go to the Search panel, click the Search tab.
2. Define the date range and cameras to search for events according to the steps in section 2.
3. Under Event Type, check the box next to the primary event type, for example [ ]Face events.
4. Check [ ]Search for related events to load the secondary search window.
   
5. Specify the period of time you wish to search for related events. By default, OpCenter searches 3 minutes before and after each primary event for events of the secondary event type.
6. Specify the secondary event type to search, for example [ ]Motion events. The current search criteria is summarized under Search Description.
7. Click the Search button.
8. Events that match the first set of search criteria are displayed in the Search panel results screen.
   3VR appliance marks events with correlated events of the secondary type with a plus sign (+).
   
9. Click the plus sign to display the related events.
   

Searching for Motion in a Region

When setting up a search for motion events, choosing Specify in the event selector allows you to search for motion recorded in a specific region of the camera view.

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Searching for Specific Faces

When setting up a search for face events, choosing Specify in the event selector allows you to further restrict the search to certain kinds of face events.

Searching for Faces Similar to a Person

Use the following steps to search for face events similar to a known person:

1. Check Faces, and then click Specify.
2. Check People and Characteristics, and then click Person.
   
3. Scroll through the list of people to find the person you are searching for. Click to select that person.
4. Define the Similarity level to use for the search:
   • Selecting a higher similarity level returns results that are more likely to match the face you are searching for, but returns fewer results.
   • Selecting a lower similarity level returns more results, but more of those faces may not match the one you are searching for.
5. Click Search.

Searching for Faces Not Matching a Person

Perform the following steps to search for face events that do not match a known person:

1. Check Faces, and then click Specify.
2. Check People and Characteristics, and then click Person.
   
3. Scroll through the list of people to find the person to exclude from the search. Click to select that person.
4. Check the box next to Not.
5. Move the Similarity level scroll bar higher than 95 (Matches Only).
6. Click Search.

Searching for Faces Similar to Members of a Group

Use the following steps to search for face events similar to any of the people in a group:

1. Check Faces, and then click Specify.
2. Check People and Characteristics, and then click Characteristics.
   
3. Check Groups. Scroll through the list of groups and select the group to search for.
4. Define the Similarity level to use for the search:
   • Selecting a higher similarity level returns results that are more likely to match the face you are searching for, but returns fewer results.
   • Selecting a lower similarity level returns more results, but more of those faces may not match the one you are searching for.
5. Click Search.

Searching for User-Defined Person Characteristics

Perform the following steps to search for face events that were tagged with user-defined properties, such as an employee ID:

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Sorting Search Results

There are two ways to sort the results of a search: by Time and by Similarity.

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1. Under Events, check the box next to Faces to search for face events.
2. Click Specify.
   
3. Change the Sort Results By radio button to Similarity. When the search results display, the most similar events appear first in the results.

Saving Searches

You can save searches and run them again.

Storing Search Criteria as a Saved Search

If you frequently perform the same searches, you can save search criteria to make future investigations faster.

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1. Click the Search tab to go to the Search panel.
2. Specify the search criteria as described on the previous pages.
   
3. Click Save.
4. In the Save Search dialog box, enter a name for the search.
   
5. Click Save.

Running a Saved Search

To search for events using a saved search:

1. In the Search panel, click the Saved Searches tab.
2. Select the saved search to run from the list of saved searches.
   
3. Click the Search button.

Modifying or Deleting a Saved Search

To modify a saved search:

1. In the Search panel, click the Saved Searches tab.
2. Click to select the saved search you wish to modify from the list of searches.
   
   
   • To change the search criteria, click the Edit button. You return to the main screen of the Search panel where you can modify the search parameters as desired. Click Save to store your changes.
   • To delete the saved search, click Delete. In the pop-up that appears, click Yes to confirm the search deletion.

Searching from an event or Person card

You can quickly initiate a search for events with properties similar to an event or person of interest. To this, right-click the event card or person card and select one of the following options from the right-click menu:

Search for Camera

Choose this option to switch to the Search panel with the following criteria selected:

• Date Range: The same day as the source event.
• Time: A two-hour interval surrounding the time of the source event.
  
• Cameras: The camera that captured the source event.
• Events: All event types checked.

Search for Time

Choose this option to switch to the Search panel with the following criteria selected:

• Date Range: The same day as the source event.
• Time: A five-minute interval surrounding the time of the source event.
  
• Cameras: The camera that captured the source event.
• Events: All event types checked.

Search for Person

Choose this option to switch to the Search panel with the following criteria selected:

• Date Range: Recent: 1 day
• Time: Full day
• Cameras:
  • If searching from a face event card, the camera that captured the face event is pre-selected.
  • If searching from a person card in the People panel, all cameras are pre-selected.
• Events: Faces checked with Specify selected, searches for faces with a similarity factor of 80.

Exporting Search Results

Export events from the Search panel search results screen in one of the following ways:

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ALERTS PANEL

Getting Started with the Alerts Panel

Using the Alerts panel, you can instruct VisionPoint™ VMS to perform a specified action when video is recorded that matches certain criteria.

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1. To go to the Alerts panel, click the Alerts tab. The main screen of the Alerts panel displays the list of alerts that have been created on the VMS server.
2. Click an alert to view a summary of its properties.
3. To create a new alert, click New.
   
   OpCenter switches to the alert editing screen.
4. Type a name for the alert and select a color for the alert.
5. Specify the days and hours the alert should be active and select the camera for the alert.
6. Select the event types to include in the alert.
7. Check the boxes next to one or more alert Actions to carry out when the alert is triggered.
8. Type an alert response procedure. This text is included with the alert and posted on events that trigger the alert.
9. Click Save to save the new alert. The alert is added to the list of alerts displayed in the main view of the Alerts panel.
   
10. Click the check box next to the alert to enable it.
    

Creating an Alert

1. Click the Alerts tab to go to the Alerts panel.
2. To create a new alert, click New.
   OpCenter switches to the alert editing screen. From here, you can edit a number of properties for the alert, outlined in detail in the following sections.

Set Alert Name and Color

1. Type a name for the alert in the Name text box.
2. Click on the default color block (red) to display the color selector. Use the scroll bar to view additional colors.
   
   Click a color block to select a color. The color you select for the alert appears across the top of event cards that trigger the alert.

Select Days and Times

Days

• Choose Specify and click the days to include to enable the alert only on certain days.
• Leave the Days option set to All days to run the alert on every day of the week.
  

...

• Select Specify to enable the alert during specific hours.
• To include all 24 hours in the alert, select Any time.
  

Select Cameras

Use the camera selector to specify which cameras to include in the alert:

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Select Event Types

The event selector displays the list of event types available on the VMS server (or the active VMS server, if you are logged in to Enterprise OpCenter).

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Specify Alert Action

When defining the alert, you can instruct VisionPoint™ VMS to carry out certain actions when an alert is triggered. The alert actions defined on the VMS server are listed in the Actions box.

Check the box beside each action that should be performed when this alert is triggered.

Define the Alert Response Procedure

Enter text into the Alert Response Procedure box to include instructions or helpful information for the alert responder.

This text appears with other information about the alert when a user clicks the alert event card in the Monitor panel, Cases panel, or Search panel results screen.

Save and Enable the New Alert

1. After you are finished defining the criteria for the alert, click Save to save the new alert.
   
2. The alert is added to the list of alerts displayed in the main view of the Alerts panel. Click the check box next to the alert to enable it.
   

Alert Actions

You can create alert actions to email key security personnel, change recording settings, or modify the maximum amount of bandwidth a camera can use when an alert is triggered.

Viewing Alert Actions

1. To view and edit alert actions, click the Alerts tab, and then the Actions tab.
   
2. Select an action from the list of alert actions. A description of the alert action appears in the text box to the right of the actions list.
   The information displayed depends on the type of alert action.
   
   • Scheduled Values: the settings that take effect when the alert is triggered.
   • Post-Alert Recording Period: the settings change remains in effect for this many seconds after the alert is triggered.
   • Cameras: Specifies the cameras that have modified settings during the post-alert recording period.
3. Email alert actions show the following fields:
   • To Addresses: the list of recipients of the alert email.
   • Subject: subject line of the email that is sent when the alert is triggered.
   • Body: content of the email that is sent when the alert is triggered.
   • Include: lists information and images that are included with the email.

Configuring a New Email Alert Action

Perform the following steps to create a new email alert action. Alerts configured with the action send an email when the alert is triggered.

1. To view and edit alert actions, click the Alerts tab, and then the Actions tab.
2. Click New.
3. Click Email, text message, or page.
   
4. Type an Action Name to identify the action in the Alerts panel.
5. Click the To button to display the Email Recipients dialog box.
   
6. Specify the recipient(s) for the email in one of the following ways:
   • If the mail recipient is already listed in the address book, double-click the recipient to add them to the list of recipients.
   • If the mail recipient is not listed, click Add to add a new recipient to the address book. Type the recipient’s name and email address, and then click Create.
7. Click Done.
8. Type the subject line for the email in the Subject text box.
9. Type a message into the Body text box.
10. Select the information you want to send in the alert email:
    
    • Alert name: includes the alert name in the body of the message.
    • Alert details: includes a brief summary of the alert criteria in the body of the message.
    • Single image: emails only the image that triggered the alert or All images: includes all images from the event.
    • Add event details in images: embeds information about the event in each image saved from the event.
    • Send verification image: includes the reference image for face events that match to a known person.
    • Video: includes the video file associated with the event as an attachment.
    • Send additional early email when event opens: by default, alert emails are sent at the conclusion of an alert event. Check this box to send a message when the event opens, as well as when it closes.
      
11. Click the Save button to save the alert action.

Creating a New Settings Change Alert Action

Perform the following steps to create a new settings change alert action. When the alert is triggered, alerts configured with the action will change recording settings and/or bandwidth consumption on specified cameras.

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1. To view and edit alert actions, click the Alerts tab, and then the Actions tab.
2. Click New.
3. Click Settings change.
   
4. Type an Action Name to identify the action in the Alerts panel.
   To modify the camera recording settings when the alert is triggered:
5. Check Recording Settings.
   
6. Select cameras from the camera selector by clicking the camera number. You may only apply each alert action to one camera model (see important note, above). A warning message is displayed if you select incompatible cameras.
7. Configure the modified settings that take effect when the alert is triggered. Depending on the selected camera model, different configuration options are available. Only settings that apply to the selected camera model are displayed.
   To modify the maximum network bandwidth available to the system after an alert is triggered:
8. Select Maximum Bandwidth.
9. In the Maximum Bandwidth (Kbits/sec) box, enter the maximum network bandwidth to make available to the VMS server after an alert has been triggered.
   To allow unlimited bandwidth usage, enter 0.
10. The Apply settings for seconds after the alert box controls the duration that the modified settings and/or maximum bandwidth stay in effect after an alert is triggered. 120 seconds is the default, but you may enter a new value in the range of 1 to 99,999 seconds.
11. Click Save to create the new alert response action.

Viewing Alert Events

When an alert is triggered, the event that triggered the alert is identified with a colored bar across the top of the event card. To view information about the alert associated with an event card:

1. Click the event card. The event editor opens automatically to the Alerts tab and displays details about the alert.
   

CASES PANEL

Getting Started with the Cases Panel

The OpCenter Cases panel provides a centralized interface for managing evidence (events, people, documents, etc.) relevant to an ongoing investigation. Using a case to manage an investigation allows you to draw links between pieces of evidence, quickly view a summary of an ongoing case, and easily share the case details and supporting evidence with management or law enforcement.

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Cases Panel Layout

1. Click the Cases tab to go to the Cases panel.
   The main view of the Cases panel displays the list of cases on the system.
   
2. If there are a large number of cases, use the following methods to filter the list:
   • Use the Filter by User drop-down menu at the top of the Cases panel to filter the cases by the case creator or assignee. By default, this menu is set to My Cases. To view all cases, change the Filter by User menu to All.
   • To sort the list of cases by their properties, click the column headers. For example, click the Name column header to sort alphabetically by case name (A-Z). To sort in reverse order (Z-A), click the column header a second time.
     To view the details of a case, select the case and click View Case.
     
     To create a new case, click Add New Case.
3. When creating, viewing, or modifying a case, OpCenter displays the case editing screen of the Cases panel.
   This interface allows you to view or edit the case details, or view the evidence linked to the case.

Working with Cases

This section describes how to view and edit existing cases, create new cases, and delete cases.

Viewing an Existing Case

1. Click the Cases tab to go to the Cases panel.
2. Select the case of interest from the list of cases.
3. Click View Case.
   
4. From the case editing screen, click the tabs to view the Case Summary and any Notes, Documents, Events, or People added to the case.
5. To return to the case list, click Return to Cases.
   

Opening a New Case

There are two ways to open a new case:
From the Cases Panel

1. Click the Cases tab to go to the Cases panel.
2. Click Add New Case.
   
3. Fill out the fields under the Case Summary tab:
   • Case ID: A case ID is auto-generated for you based on the present date. However, you can edit this field, if desired.
   • Case Name: Type a name for the case.
   • Case Description: If desired, type a summary description for the case.
   • Assignee: By default, the assignee is set to the current user account. To assign the case to another user, click the link and select the user name from the drop-down list.
   • Private Case: A case marked as a Private Case is only be visible to the creator and the assignee.
   • Status: When creating a new case, the case status is set to Open.
     
4. When you finish editing the details of the new case:
   • To create the new case, click Save.
   • To clear the form without saving your changes, click Undo Changes.

From an Event or Person Card

1. Select the event or person card of interest in the Monitor, Search, or People panels.
   
2. In the event editor or person editor, click the Cases tab.
   
3. Click Add Event to New Case (or Add Person to New Case).
4. Fill out the details of the new case:
   • Case ID: A case ID is auto-generated for you based on the present date. However,
     you can edit this field, if desired.
   • Case Name: Type a name for the case.
   • Case Description: If desired, type a summary description for the case.
   • Assignee: By default, the assignee is set to the current user account. To assign the case to another user, click the link and select the user name from the drop-down list.
   • Private Case: A case marked as a Private Case is only visible to the creator and the assignee.
   • Status: When creating a new case, the case status is set to Open.
5. Click Save to save the new case. The event or person card is added to the case as the first piece of evidence.

Editing a Case

1. Click the Cases tab to go to the Cases panel.
2. Select the case of interest from the list of cases.
3. Click View Case.
4. Edit the fields under the Case Summary tab as desired (See Referring a new Case for a description of each setting).
5. When you are finished editing the case:
   • To save your changes, click Save.
   • To clear the form without saving your changes, click Undo Changes.

Deleting a Case

1. Click the Cases tab to go to the Cases panel.
2. Select the case to be deleted from the list of cases.
3. Click Delete Case.
4. In the Confirm Delete dialog box, click Yes to permanently delete the case.

Building a Case

The section describes how to add and remove events to/from a case and add people.

Adding Events to a Case

You can add events to a case from the Monitor panel or from the Search panel search results screen by performing the following steps:

Adding a Single Event Card

1. Select the event card(s) of interest.
2. In the event editor, click the Cases tab.
3. Select an existing case from the list and click Add Event to Case.
   

Adding Multiple Events at Once

1. Hold the CTRL key and click event cards to select multiple events.
2. Right-click one of the selected events and select Add Events to Case from the menu.
   
3. In the Cases tab of the event editor, select an existing case from the list and click Add Events to Case.

Adding a Person to a Case

You can add people to a case from the People panel by performing the following steps:

1. From the People panel, select a person card.
2. Select the Cases tab from the person editor.
3. Select a case from the list and click Add Person to Case.
4. Click Save.

Removing Evidence from a Case

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1. From the case editing screen, click the Events or People tab.
2. Right-click the event or person card to be removed and select Remove from Case.
   
3. To return to the main view of the Cases panel, click Return to Cases.

Adding Supporting Documents and Notes to a Case

This section describes how to add documents and notes to cases.

Adding a Document to a Case

1. Click the Cases tab to go to the Cases panel.
2. Select the case of interest from the list of cases.
3. Click View Case.
4. Click the Documents tab.
5. Click Upload.
   
6. In the Choose Document File window, select the file to upload to the case.
7. Click OK.

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The file appears in the Documents tab of the case editor.

Working with Documents

You can open and edit the documents you upload.

Opening a Document

Perform the following steps to download and view a file uploaded to a case.

1. In the Documents pane, select the file to open.
2. Click View.
3. The file opens in the application on your computer associated
   with the file type.
   
   For example, if the document is a .txt file, clicking View opens the file in Windows Notepad or another text editor.

Saving a Document

Perform the following steps to save a file from the Documents tab to your computer.

1. In the Documents tab, select the file to save.
2. Click Save.
3. In the Choose Folder dialog box, select the directory or drive where you wish to save the document.
4. Click Save.

Removing a Document

Perform the following steps to remove a file added to a case:

1. In the Documents tab, select the file to delete.
2. Click Delete.
3. In the dialog box that appears, click Yes to confirm removing the file from the case.

Adding Notes to a Case

1. In the Cases panel, select a case from the list of cases.
2. Click View Case.
3.  In the case editing screen, click the Notes tab.
4. Click Add a Note.
   
5. Select a label for your note from the Label drop-down menu.
   
6. Type the text of the note in the text box.
7. Click Save.
   The note is added to the Notes pane of the case editor.
   

Exporting a Case

Exporting a case converts the case summary, evidence, and supporting documents to a file that people can view in a web browser (Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer, Chrome, or Safari). This allows you to easily share the details of the investigation with law enforcement, management, or other interested parties.

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1. Click the Cases tab to go to the Cases panel.
2. Select the case to export.
3. Click Export Case.
   
4. Click the drop-down arrow next to Location to select the directory or drive where you wish to save the exported case.
5. To create a new folder for the exported case, check Create new sub folder and enter a folder name.
6. If desired, select Include audio if available to include audio with the exported video clips.
7. Check Include event details in images to embed details about the source event in images exported with the case.
8. Click the Export button.
9. When the export is complete, click the Close button.

PEOPLE PANEL

Getting Started with the People Panel

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1. Click the People tab to go to the People panel.
   
2. Select the person card of interest.
   Details about the person are displayed in the Person pane of the person editor.

Working with Face Events

This section describes how to create a new person from a face event and match a face event to an existing person.

Creating a New Person from a Face Event

To create a new person from a face event:

1. Select the face event of interest.
2. In the event editor, click the Person tab.
3. To assign the person to a group, open the Group drop-down menu and click a group name.
4. Edit the following person properties as desired:
   • First name
   • Last name
   • Employee ID
   • Gender
   • Hair color
   • Any custom fields created for face events.
     
5. Click Save to create the new person.

Matching an Face Event to an Existing Event

Perform the following steps to match a face event to an existing person. The face event is added to the person card as a profile.

1. Select the face event of interest.
2. In the event editor, click the Person tab.
3. Select Match or Unmatch.
   
4. Locate the person to match with the face event in one of the following ways:
   • Select a radio button beside Show People to select which list of people to display: Named or All.
   • To filter profiles based on last name or person ID, select Name/ID from the drop down menu. Type part or all of the last name or ID number for the profile you are looking for and press the Enter key.
   • To filter profiles by group, select Group from the drop-down menu and select the group name from the second drop-down menu.
5. Select the person in the face event from the list.
6. Click the Match button to add the face event to the selected person card as a profile.

Filtering and Sorting Person Cards

By default, the People panel displays all people created in the system. You can filter and sort person cards using the controls at the top of the People panel.

Filtering People by Group Membership

Groups provide a way of categorizing people created in the system. A list with all people groups is displayed in the upper-left corner of the People panel.

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After selecting a group or category, OpCenter displays person cards for all members of the selected group. If a group has more members than can be displayed on the screen at once, use the scroll bar to scroll through all group members.

Sorting People Chronologically

Use the Sort by drop-down menu at the top of the People panel to change the ordering of person cards.

• To display person cards in the order of their most recent appearance in the system, select Last seen from the Sort by drop-down menu. Person cards matched to the most recent face events are displayed first.
• To display person cards in the order of their oldest appearance in the system, select First seen from the Sort by drop-down menu. Person cards matched to the oldest face events are displayed first.
• To display person cards in alphabetical order by last name, select Last name from the Sort by drop-down menu. Person cards without assigned last names are displayed first, followed by people with last names in alphabetical order.
  

Filtering People by Name, ID, Gender, and Other Custom Properties

Use the Filter by control at the top of the People panel to filter people by manually edited properties such as name, employee ID, gender, etc.

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People Groups

This section describes how to create new people groups and edit and delete people groups.

Creating a New Group

Perform the following steps to create a new people group.

1. Click the People tab to go to the People panel.
2. Click Edit Groups.
   
3. Click Add New Group.
   
4. Type the Name of the new group.
   This name appears on person cards, as well as on any face events matched to any profiles in this group.
5. Enter a brief Description of the group.
6. Click Save to create the new group.
   
   The new group appears in the list of groups.
   

Editing People Groups

Perform the following steps to modify the name or description of a people group.

1. Click the People tab to go to the People panel.
2. Click Edit Groups.
   
3. Select the name of the group to edit.
4. Click Edit.
   
   You return to the Editing Groups screen. Modify the group name and/or description as desired, and then click Save.

Deleting People Groups

Perform the following steps to delete a people group.

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Viewing and Editing Person Details

1. Click the People tab to go to the People panel.
   
2. Select the person card of interest.
3. Details about the person are displayed in the Person tab of the person editor:
   • Person ID
   • First Name
   • Last Name
   • Custom Properties (Employee ID, Gender, Hair Color, etc.)
4. Click the remaining tabs in the person editor to view and/or edit the following items:
   • Profiles: The Profiles tab contains face events matched to the person. Each individual face event is considered a “profile” of the person.
   • Notes: To display notes added to the person, select the Notes tab of the person editor. Or, to add a note to the person, click the Add a Note button in this tab.
   • Cases: You can add the person to a case from the Cases tab of the person editor.

Working with Person Profiles

You can view profiles matched to person cards, change display profiles, unmatch a profile from a person card, and view profile images.

Viewing Profiles Matched to a Person Card

The Profiles tab of the person editor contains face events matched to a person. Each face event is called a “profile” of the person. Matching high-quality face event cards to people helps the system
improve its ability to recognize that person over time.

1. Click the People tab to go to the People panel.
2. Select the person card of interest.
3. In the person editor, click the Profiles tab. All profiles matched to the person are displayed.
   

Changing the Display Profile

Although a single person card may have multiple matched profiles appearing in the Profiles tab, one profile must always be identified as the primary profile for the person. This profile is called the Display profile. The best image from the Display profile is used to identify the person wherever the person appears in OpCenter.

...

1. Click the People tab to go to the People panel.
2. Select the person card of interest.
3. In the person editor, click the Profiles tab. All profiles matched to the person are displayed.
   
4. Select the profile to promote and then click Use as Display Image.

Unmatching a Profile from a Person Card

You should unmatch a profile from a person card for one of the following reasons:

...

1. Click the People tab to go to the People panel.
   
2. Select the person card with a mismatched profile.
3. In the person editor, click the Profiles tab.
4. Select the incorrect profile.
5. Click Unmatch Profile.
   
6. In the Unmatch Profiles dialog box, specify what to do with the profile that is being unmatched:

   • For low-quality profiles, select Keep selected profile on this person, but do not use for future searches and alerts. The profile will still be associated with the person card, but it will not appear in the Profiles tab and its images will not be used for face searching.

     Note
     This option is not available for profiles created by imported images.

     
     

   • For incorrectly matched profiles that should be turned into a separate person card, select Create a new person from the profile.
     The person is created and placed in the Uncategorized group.
   • For incorrectly matched profiles you do not wish to save, select Unmatch without creating a new person.
7. Click Unmatch to unmatch the profile.

Person Profile Images

Each profile matched to a person card contains up to three person profile images, thumbnail images of the person’s face auto-generated by the source face event.

Viewing Profile Images

Perform the following steps to view the images from a person profile:

1. Click the People tab to go to the People panel.
2. Select the person card of interest.
3. In the person editor, click the Profiles tab. All profiles matched to the person are displayed.
   
4. Select a profile and click View Images.
   A dialog box appears and displays all of the thumbnail images for the selected profile.
   
   
   

Changing the Display Image for the Profile

Just as one profile is always defined as the Display profile for a person card (see section 6.2), one of the profile images is used as the Display image for the profile. The Display image is used as the
reference image for the profile in the Profiles tab.

By default, the middle thumbnail from the face event is used as the Display image for the profile. To use one of the other profile images as the Display image, select the image thumbnail and click Use as
Display Image.

Unmatching a Profile Image from a Profile

If one of the auto-generated profile images is of low-quality or is not an image of the selected person, you should unmatch the profile image from the person profile. To unmatch a profile image:

...

1. Click Unmatch to unmatch the image.

Merging Two Person cards

Perform the following steps to merge two person cards created for the same person. When people are matched together, the result is a single person card containing profiles (matched face events) from both of the merged cards.

...

1. Click the People tab to go to the People panel.
   
2. Select the person card with person details that you want to retain.
3. In the Person tab of the person editor, select Match.
4. Click the name or image of the profile you wish to merge with the selected person.
5. Click the Match button to merge the selected people.

Exporting People

Perform the following steps to export people to XML:

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Enterprise OpCenter | Exporting People to Another VMS Server

In addition to exporting to XML, Enterprise OpCenter allows exporting of people between VMS servers on the Enterprise.
Follow these steps to share people created on one system with other VMS servers on the Enterprise:

1. Click the People tab to go to the People panel.
2. Select the person card to export, or hold the CTRL key and click person cards to select multiple events.
3. Click Export People.
4. In the Exporting People dialog box, select Export people directly to selected 3VR systems.
5. In the Export To box, check the box next to each VMS server to include in the export.
   To share the selected people with every system on the Enterprise, click Select All.
   To export any alerts created for the selected people, check the box next to Export Alerts.
6. Click the Export button. A confirmation dialog box appears.
   
7. Click Yes to proceed with the export.
   When the people sharing process is complete, the Status field displays a summary of the export.

Notes

About Notes

The Notes feature of OpCenter allows users to add plain text notes to events, people, and cases of interest.

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You can categorize notes on events through the use of note labels; for example, you might add a note to an event card with the Flag label to mark the card for a manager’s attention.

Viewing a Note

You can view notes attached to an event, a person card, or a case.

Viewing Notes Attached to an Event

1. Select an event card with a note. Note events are marked with a blue stripe and the note label.
2. In the event editor, click the Notes tab to display all notes for that event, including the date, time, and author of each message.
   

You can label a note with Note, Flag, Review, Cleared or a custom label created by a user with administrative privileges.

Viewing Notes Attached to a Person Card

1. Select a person card with a note.
2. In the person editor, click the Notes tab to display all notes for that person, including the date, time, and author of each message.
   

Viewing Notes Attached to a Case

1. Select a case with a note.
2. Click View Case.
3. In the case editor, click the Notes tab to display all notes for that case, including the date, time, and author of each message.
   

Adding a Note

1. Select an event card, a person card, or a case.
2. Click the Notes tab.
3. Click the Add a Note button.
4. If you are adding a to an event, select a label for the note from the Label drop-down menu. This label is displayed in the top-right corner of the event card to indicate the type of note attached.
   
5. Type your note in the text box.
6. Click the Save button.
   
7. When you click Save, the system automatically adds the date, time, and author to the note.
   In addition, the event card is stamped with the note label.
   

Re-labeling a Note

You can use note labels to distinguish between different types of notes. VisionPoint™ VMS comes with four predefined note labels: Note, Flag, Review, and Cleared. When adding a note to an event, the label Note is used by default unless you select a different label.

...

1. Select an event card with a note.
2. In the Notes tab of the event editor, click the drop-down arrow next to Label to display the four default labels, as well as any custom labels created on your system.
3. Select a different label for the event from the list.
   
   The event card is updated with the new note label. If desired, you may also add a new note to indicate why you changed note label.

Managing Note Labels

You can create custom note labels, as well as edit and delete labels.

Creating a Custom Note Label

To create a new note label:

1. From the Notes tab of the event editor, click the Add a Note button.
2. Click the Labels button.
3. Type a new label and click the Add button.
   
   This new label is added to the list of labels and appears in the Label drop-down menu in the Notes tab.
   

4. Click the Close button. You can now use this label when adding a note to an event.

Editing or Deleting a Note Label

To edit or delete an existing label:

1. From the Notes tab of the event editor, click the Add a Note button.
2. Click the Labels button.
3. Select a note label from the list.
   • To edit the note label, click Edit. Modify the label in the text box and click Save.
   • To delete the note label, click Delete.
     

4. When you are finished editing note labels, click Close.

   Note
   You cannot delete labels that are in use. Before deleting a label, you must manually re-assign each note currently using the label to a different label. Perform a search for Events With Notes in the Search panel to identify notes that you must relabel.

   
   

Exported Evidence

Viewing Exported Events, people and cases

Events, people, and cases exported from OpCenter are converted into an XML file with associated resources that can be viewed in a supported web browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, or Safari).

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Viewing Exported Video

You can view video exported from the OpCenter Video panel in one of two ways:

• In 3VR Evidence Viewer, if the application was included with the export or has been downloaded separately.
• In QuickTime, Windows Media Player, or VLC, if Evidence Viewer is unavailable.

Viewing Exported Video in Evidence Viewer

3VR Evidence Viewer is a powerful tool that allows simultaneous viewing of one or more cameras of exported video. Evidence Viewer replicates the functionality of the 3VR OpCenter Video panel for evidence recipients (e.g., law enforcement, court officials, etc.) without access to the 3VR system.

Viewing Exported Video in a Supported Media Player

If Evidence Viewer was not included with the export, exported video clips can be people can view the clips one at a time in one of the supported media players (QuickTime, Windows Media Player*, or VLC).

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Evidence View Overview

3VR Evidence Viewer is a powerful tool that allows you to simultaneously view one or more cameras of video exported from the 3VR OpCenter Video panel without requiring the purchase of additional software. 3VR Evidence Viewer is ideal for sharing exported video with law enforcement or other investigators.

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Evidence Viewer is fully supported in Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7.

Obtaining Evidence Viewer

Evidence Viewer is installed with 3VR OpCenter. If you are connecting to a VMS server over a network using OpCenter, you have the option to include Evidence Viewer with exported video files. The Evidence Viewer application .exe is located inside the export folder.

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Instructions for obtaining 3VR Evidence Viewer are included with every video export.

Opening Exported Video in Evidence Viewer

There are two ways to load video in Evidence Viewer:

Automatically Load Video from Export Folder

To automatically load video when Evidence Viewer is launched, drag the application (3VREvidenceViewer.exe) into the exported video folder. If the Evidence Viewer application was included in the exported video folder, there is no need to move the application — simply double-click the Evidence Viewer icon and exported video in the same folder will load automatically.

1. Open the folder containing the exported video.
2. Double-click 3VREvidenceViewer.exe to launch the application.
3. When Evidence Viewer loads, it automatically locates and plays back 3VR video files located in the same folder as the application.
   

Manually Select Export Folder

To use Evidence Viewer for viewing video from multiple exported folders, you may wish to keep the Evidence Viewer application in a single location. For example, you may wish to save Evidence Viewer in the Program Files directory (usually C:\Program Files\3VR\) if it is not already there, and place a shortcut to Evidence Viewer in your Start menu.

...

1. Launch Evidence Viewer.
2. In the Location of Video Files dialog box, browse to the location of the folder containing the exported video. Select the folder name.
3. Click OK.
   Evidence Viewer loads the 3VR video files located in the selected folder.

Reviewing Video in Evidence Viewer

This section describes the controls used to view video in Evidence Viewer.

Controlling Video Playback

You can control video play back in Evidence Viewer using either the video timeline or the video playback controls.

Scanning with the Timeline

The timeline control across the top of the Evidence Viewer application spans the duration of the exported video. The time when the video you are viewing took place is overlaid on the timeline in the scrolling time slider.

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Saving a Single Frame as an Image

Perform the following steps to save a single frame from stored video to your computer or an external drive:

1. Click the pause button to pause playback on the frame of interest.
2. Right-click the paused video player and select Save Image.
   
3. Select the directory or drive where you wish to save the image file.
4. Edit the file name if desired.
5. Click the Save button to save the image.

Changing the View Type for Images from 360-Degree Panomorph Cameras

For video captured by a 360-degree panomorph camera, you can dewarp the image by selecting various view types the camera supports. Refer 360-Degree Panomorph Camera Controls for more information.

Customizing Evidence Viewer

You can configure video players, add and remove cameras, configure camera overlays, and show and hide the video timeline and camera tree.

Changing the Number and Size of Video Players

The layout selector at the top of the Evidence Viewer controls the number and arrangement of video players. Select a different layout button to increase or decrease the number and positioning of players as desired.

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Adding and Removing Cameras

You can specify the cameras displayed in the Evidence Viewer video grid in a number of ways.

Adding Cameras With Drag and Drop

Drag and drop a camera name from the camera tree to a video player to view the camera in the player.

Adding Cameras Using Pop-Up Menus

You can select cameras using pop-up menus.

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• To remove a specific camera, right-click the video player and select Remove “[Camera Name]”.
• To remove all currently selected cameras:
  1. Right-click anywhere in the camera tree or video player grid and select Clear All.
  2. Another way to clear all selected cameras is to click the Clear All button, located to the left of the
  3. layout selector.
     

Camera Overlays

If you would like to display information about the camera on top of each video player, change the camera overlays by performing the following steps:

1. Right-click anywhere in the video grid.
   
2. Select Overlays >, and then choose an overlay from the sub menu. The current overlay options are:
   
   • Camera Name
   • Camera Number and Name
   • Appliance Name, Camera Number, and Name
   • No Overlay
3. By default, camera overlays are placed in the top-left corner of each video player. If desired, you can re-position the overlay by clicking and dragging the overlay box.
                                                 

Showing or Hiding the Video Timeline and Camera Tree

You can hide both the camera tree and the video timeline from view.

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To re-display the timeline and/or camera tree, click the arrows again.

Audio Playback

You can start and stop audio, as well as control the volume.

Starting and Stopping Audio

You can play back only one audio stream at a time. Perform the following steps to start or stop audio playback.

1. If the camera with audio is not already playing video, bring it up in the video grid using one of the options in Adding and Removing Cameras in this chapter.
2. Start audio playback by performing one of the following steps:
   • Right-click the camera video feed in the video grid and select Play Audio on “[Camera Name]”.
   • Right-click the camera name in the camera tree and select Play Audio on “[Camera Name]”.
     
3. Stop audio playback by performing one of the following steps:
   • Right-click the camera video feed in the video player and select Stop Audio on “[Camera Name]”.
   • Right-click the camera name in the camera tree and select Stop Audio on “[Camera Name]”.

Controlling Volume in Evidence Viewer

When an audio camera is selected in Evidence Viewer, the video toolbar is displayed on top of the video player. This toolbar contains the volume control for audio.

To adjust the volume of audio playback for a camera, move the mouse over the speaker icon to display the volume slider bar and drag the bar right to increase the volume or left to decrease the volume.

Muting Audio Playback

• To mute audio, click the speaker icon. An X appears next to the speaker to indicate that audio is muted.
• To restore audio, click the speaker icon again.
  

Controlling Volume in Windows

To raise or lower the volume of audio playback for all audio channels, adjust the volume of your PC by performing the following steps:

1. Click the speaker icon in the Windows task bar notification area.
2. Click and drag the slider bar up or down to adjust the volume.
   

Auto-Hide Video Toolbar

• By default, the video toolbar appears at the bottom of each video player, overlaying the video feed. If desired, you may configure Evidence Viewer to auto-hide the toolbar when the video player does not have mouse focus.
• To begin auto-hiding the toolbar, check the box next to Auto-hide video toolbar.
  

Digital Zoom

3VR Evidence Viewer features the ability to zoom in on a region of interest in the camera video feed. This “digital zoom” feature adds PTZ-like functionality to fixed analog and IP cameras.

Entering Zoom Mode

There are two ways enter zoom mode:

Zooming with the Mouse Scroll Wheel

• Click the video player to center the zoom, and then use your mouse’s scroll wheel to zoom in and out.
                                         

Zooming while holding the CTRL Key

• While holding down the CTRL key, click and drag the mouse over the video feed to draw a box over the region of interest. Release the mouse button to zoom in on the region.
                                         

Shifting the Zoomed Region

When a video player is in zoom mode, a zoom inset appears in the bottom-left corner of the video player. The zoom inset contains a white outline representing the current zoom level.

Shift the zoomed region by clicking and dragging the white box in the inset.You can also nudge the zoomed region up, down, left, or right using the arrow keys on your keyboard.
                                              

Exiting Zoom Mode

You can exit zoom mode in one of two ways:

• Double-click the video player.
• Press the escape (Esc) key on your keyboard.

Validating Exported Evidence

When you export events and video from the 3VR system, they are digitally watermarked using SHA-1 encryption. This watermark ensures that the exported evidence has not been tampered with, as modifying the file in any way will invalidate the watermark. For example, editing the date of the recorded video in an event XML file, or deleting frames from exported video clips and re-saving the video, will produce an error if the evidence is run through the validation tool.

Validating Exported Events, People, and Cases in 3VR Opcenter

3VR customers may use OpCenter’s validation tool to verify that the contents of a 3VR event export folder have not been tampered with:

1. Launch 3VR OpCenter and click the Search tab.
2. Click the Validation tab.
3. Click the drop-down arrow next to File or Folder to open the file browser menu.
4. Select the directory where the exported event or case file is located, and then click OK.
   
5. Click Validate to begin the validation process.
   
6. A message appears and indicates the result of the validation process:
   • Folder validated with no errors or
     
   • Authentication Failed
     
7. Click Close when you are finished to return to the Search panel.

Validating Exported Video in 3VR Evidence Viewer

Evidence recipients can validate exported video in 3VR Evidence Viewer:

1. Open the folder containing the exported evidence and double-click EvidenceViewer.exe 3VR Evidence Viewer launches and
   automatically loads the exported video contained in the same folder. The title bar of the Evidence Viewer application displays
   Validated for validated video.
2. Click the link to view more information.
   
   If validation fails, you are shown a Validation Exception(s) error message when the problematic video is opened in Evidence Viewer.
   

Importing

Overview

This chapter addresses how to import surveillance data (events, cases, video, images, etc.) into a 3VR 3VR appliance. There are two reasons why you might want to import data:

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Configure Import Camera on Appliance

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1. Launch System Manager.
2. In the Configure panel, click the plus sign next to the appliance name to display the list of configuration options.
   
3. Click the plus sign next to Cameras.
4. Select an unused camera to designate as the import camera
   If all cameras are currently in use, right-click Cameras and select Add Camera. A new camera appears at the end of the list of cameras.
   
5. Right-click the camera and select Enable Camera.
   
6. On the right-hand side of System Manager, click the link next to Edit Camera Type (the link text displays the current camera type, e.g. Analog, Network, or Unknown).
   
7. In the Edit Camera Type dialog box, select the camera type appropriate for the imported data:
   
   • To import events, people, or cases exported from another appliance, select Imported XML.
     
   • To import images, select Imported Images.
     
   • To import video files, select Imported Video.
8. Click Save
9. Scroll to the top of the settings for the import camera. Edit the Name setting to a name that identifies the camera as an import camera.
   
10. Click Save to save the new camera name.

Importing Events

You can import events from XML and video files.

Importing Events from XML

Perform the following steps to import one or more events exported from another 3VR appliance:

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Importing Events from Video

Perform the following steps to import one or more video files as events:

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Viewing Imported Events

This section describes how to view imported events in XML and video files.

Events Imported from XML

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1. Click the Search tab to go to the Search panel.
2. Under Date Range, select a date and time frame that encompasses the date and time of the imported events. For example, if the events occurred the previous day, select Specify and set the Start and End dates accordingly.
   
3. Click the camera number of the import camera.
4. Under Event Type, click the event type of the imported events (e.g., motion, face, etc.).
5. Click Search.

Events Imported from Video

Events generated from imported video files are stored in the database with time stamps starting at the time of importing and extending into the future. This allows events from imported video to be played back in “real time” with respect to other events in the sequence, even if their absolute time is incorrect.

...

1. Click the Search tab to go to the Search panel.
2. Under Date Range, select the date that the video was imported. If the video was imported today, select Recent and then click 1 day.
3. Next to Time, select Specify. Set the Start Time to the import time, and set the End Time to a few hours later than the import time.
   
4. Select the import camera number.
5. Under Event Type, check Motion (or another event type, if analytics are enabled on the import camera).
6. Click Search.

Importing Cases

You can import cases in xml file and then view the cases.

Importing Cases from XML

Perform the following steps to import one or more cases exported from another 3VR appliance:

...

Viewing Imported Cases

The imported case(s) appear in the list of cases. To view the case details, select the case and click View Case.

Importing People

You can import people from XML files and from images.

Importing People from XML

Perform the following steps to import one or more people exported from another 3VR appliance:

...

Importing People from Images

Perform the following steps to create people in OpCenter based on a set of imported images:

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To import people from images, follow the instructions for the import type (automatic or manual), described below.

Importing Images Automatically

Use the automatic importer to automatically create face events or people based on faces identified in a set of image files.

1. Click the arrow next to Image Folder to open the file browser menu.
   

2. Select the folder containing the images to import, and then click OK.

   Note
   Supported file extensions for image import are: .png (recommended), .jpg, .jpeg, .bmp, and .gif.

   
   

3. To import images in sub folders as well, check Include images in lower-level folders.
4. Specify what OpCenter should do with each imported face:
   • To create a new person in the People panel for each imported face, select Create a new person for each face.
     
   • If you would like to import the images as face events, select Index face but do not create a new person. You may manually create people from the imported face events after importing.
5. Specify how to handle duplicate image files:
   
   • Do not import duplicate image files.
   • Do not import image files that match those already imported during this session.
   • Allow duplicate image files.
6. To provide a group name for the imported people other than the default value (“Imported People”), type a group name in the Set Identifier box.
7. Click Import.

Importing Images Manually

If the automated importer cannot identify a face in a particular image, you may attempt to manually import it. This will give you the option to draw a box around each face and help the analytic locate it, though it is still possible for the image to be rejected if the analytic cannot find the face with the extra help.

...

1. Click the arrow next to Image Folder to open the file browser menu.
2. Select the folder containing the images to import, and then click OK.
3. Click Get Images.
   
4. Select an image file to import.
   • If a face is found in the image file, the face is identified with an orange box, with circles around the eyes.
     
   • If the quality of an image is poor or if the face is at an angle, the facial surveillance analytic may fail to recognize a face when analyzing the full image. To assist with identification, click and drag the mouse over the image to draw a box around the person’s face.
     
5. Click Find Face to re-run the face finding process.
6. Click Import.
   
7. Specify whether to Create a new person with the imported image.
   
   
   • To provide a group name for the imported people other than the default value (“Imported People”), type a group name in the Set Identifier box.
8. Click More Options.
9. Specify what OpCenter should do with each imported face:
   • If OpCenter should create a new person in the People panel for the imported face, select Create a new person for each face.
   • If you would like to import the images as face events, select Index face but do not create a new person. You may manually create people from the imported face events after importing.
10. Specify how to handle duplicate image files:
    • Do not import duplicate image files.
    • Allow duplicate images.
      
11. Click Import to import the face.

Tips for Improving Import Results

In order to accept an image for importing, the analytic must be able to recognize a face in the image, which depends on identifying the person’s eyes. The system may reject a photo with a face if one or more of the following requirements is not met:

• Size: The image must not be too big or too small. The ideal space between the eyes is 35-70 pixels — you should resize photos with larger faces.
• Field of View: Faces that fill the whole image or are cropped by the image borders are difficult to identify.
• File Type: if the images are JPGs, it is possible that the compression has created artifacts that can cause problems for the importer. If available, it is better to use a non-compressed format like PNG.
• Accessories and Facial Hair: Accessories like hats or glasses can prevent importing. If available, it is better to use a photo of the person without accessories. Facial hair can also cause problems for the automatic importer. Use images without beards/ goatees if possible.
• Angle: Images used with the importer may not be recognized as faces if the horizontal and vertical angles of the face are too extreme. See the appendix concerning image guidelines for facial surveillance in the 3VR VisionPoint Installation and Configuration Guide for more information and sample images.
• Lighting: Lighting that is uneven, too dark, or too overexposed can prevent the system from recognizing a face. See the Appendix section concerning image guidelines for facial surveillance in the 3VR VisionPoint Installation and Configuration Guide for more information and sample images.

Importing People from 3VR CrimeDex

To create people from suspects exported from 3VR CrimeDex:

1. Launch 3VR OpCenter.
2. Click the People tab.
3. Click Import People.
   

4. Select CrimeDex as the import type.

   Info
   To learn more about 3VR CrimeDex, an online community where anti-fraud, loss prevention, and law enforcement professionals collaborate to solve crimes faster, visit www.crimedex.com.

   
   

5. Click the arrow next to Image Folder to open the file browser menu. Navigate to the folder containing the CrimeDex export file.
6. Select the suspect-####.cdif file and click OK.
7. To provide a group name for the imported people other than the default value (“CrimeDex Suspects”), enter a group name in the Set Identifier box.
8. Click the Import button.
9. After the import is complete, click the Close button.

Viewing Imported People

You can view imported people, face events, and CrimeDex suspects.

Imported People

Perform the following steps to view imported people:

1. Click the People tab to go to the People panel.
2. Select Imported People (or the custom group name that was entered in the Set Identifier box when importing) from the groups filter at the top of the panel.

Imported Face Events

If you selected Index face but do not create a new person when importing images, perform the following steps to view the face events created from imported images:

...

Imported CrimeDex Suspects

Perform the following steps to view people imported from CrimeDex:

1. Click the People tab to go to the People panel.
   
2. Select CrimeDex Suspects from the groups filter at the top of the panel. The People panel updates to show only person cards for people imported from CrimeDex.

Spot Monitor

About Spot Monitor

3VR Spot Monitor™ client software allows you to access a 3VR appliance from any PC on your network that meets the minimum system requirements.

System Requirements

Go to the 3VR Partners Support Portal and review the Supported Operating Systems document for information regarding the system requirements for using 3VR Spot Monitor.

Installing Spot Monitor

Refer chapter 1 for instructions on installing Spot Monitor.

Signing In

Follow the steps to Sign in to Spot Monitor.

1. Double-click the 3VR Spot Monitor desktop icon to launch the application. Alternatively, click the Windows Start menu > All Programs > 3VR Client Applications 8.1.x > 3VR Spot Monitor.
2. At the sign in screen, enter the User Name and Password of your 3VR user account.
3. Select a VMS server to connect to:
   • If this is your first time signing in to Spot Monitor on this PC, type the IP address of the 3VR system in the Appliance box. This is the address provided to you by the 3VR administrator, in the format XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX (four 1-3 digit numbers separated by periods). For example, 10.100.2.202.
   • If you have signed into Spot Monitor previously on this PC, open the Appliance drop-down menu and select the system to connect to.
4. Click Sign In.

Spot Monitor Overview

3VR Spot Monitor is a simple application that streams a multiplex or cycling display of live video from a VMS server. You should install Spot Monitor instead of OpCenter for 3VR users who only need to monitor live video, for example, at a security guard watch station or PC used to create a public display monitor.

Resizing and Closing Spot Monitor

You can minimize and maximize 3VR Spot Monitor in the same way as any other Windows application using the controls in the upper-right corner.
To close Spot Monitor, click the X button.
To customize the size of the Spot Monitor window, click and drag any edge of the window until it reaches the desired size.

1. Click and drag a corner of the window to resize the window vertically and horizontally at the same time.
   

Configuring Spot Monitor

To modify the cameras or sequence of the Spot Monitor display, move the cursor to the top of the monitor to display the Spot Monitor title bar. Click the 3VR button in the upper left-hand corner and select Configure from the drop-down menu.

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• To display live video from one camera at a time in a cycling display, select Sequential View. Continue to sequential view section in this chapter.
  
• To display live video from multiple cameras at the same time, select Multiplex View. Continue to multiplex view section in this chapter.
  

Sequential View

When you configure Spot Monitor for sequential view, cameras are displayed on the Spot Monitor one at a time, in ascending order by camera number, at full-screen resolution.

1. Click the camera number of each camera to include it in the sequence.
2. If one or more of the selected cameras has audio, select an option for audio streaming:
   • No audio
   • Play audio for all cameras if available: Audio is streamed from each camera in the sequence as it appears on screen.
     
   • Play audio continuously for one camera: Audio is streamed from a single camera continuously, regardless of which camera is currently on screen.
3. Select the information that should be placed as an overlay on each camera:
   • Display camera names
   • Display date and time
4. To display alerts generated by the 3VR system in Spot Monitor, check Enable alert interrupts.
   Enter the length of time for alert interrupts into the Alert interrupt duration text box. When an alert is generated on the system, an alert warning appears on top of the video feed and the display switches to the alerting camera for this length of time. For more information, refer Alert Interrupts for more information in this chapter.
5. The Spot Monitor application restarts itself periodically to ensure the application continues to run smoothly for days and weeks at a time. By default, the restart occurs once every 24 hours, but you may set a different restart interval in the Refresh Interval (hours) box. 
6. Use the slider bar under Display interval for each camera (seconds) to specify the number of seconds each camera should be displayed.
7. Click OK to save the configuration and return to the Spot Monitor main screen.

Multiplex View

When you configure Spot Monitor for multiplex view, cameras are displayed on the Spot Monitor simultaneously in the number and arrangement of your choice.

1. Choose a layout for the Spot Monitor with the layout selector. Click a new layout button to increase or decrease the number and positioning of players as desired. You can display up to 36 cameras at a time in Spot Monitor.
   
2. When you have decided on a player layout, click and drag a camera from the camera tree to each blank video player.
   
   Live video from the selected cameras streams in each position in the video grid.
   
   
   If you would like to display information about the camera on top of each video player, change the camera overlays by performing the following steps:
3. Right-click anywhere in the video grid.
4. Select Overlays, and then choose an overlay from the sub-menu that appears. The current overlay options are:
   • No Overlay
   • Camera Name
   • Camera Number and Name
   • Appliance and Camera Number/Name
     
5. If one or more of the selected cameras has audio and you would like to stream audio from a camera in Spot Monitor, right-click the camera’s video player and select Play audio on “[Camera Name]”.
   
   To adjust the volume of audio playback, move the mouse over the speaker icon to display the volume slider bar and drag the bar right to increase the volume or left to decrease the volume.
   
6. To display alerts generated by VisionPoint™ VMS in Spot Monitor, check Enable alert interrupts. Enter the duration for alert interrupts into the Alert interrupt duration text box. When an alert is generated on the system, an alert warning appears on top of the video feed and the display switches to the alerting camera for the specified period of time.
7. The Spot Monitor application restarts itself periodically to ensure the application continues to run smoothly for days and weeks at a time. By default, the restart occurs once every 24 hours, but you may set a different restart interval in the Refresh Interval (hours) box.
8. Click OK to save the configuration and return to the Spot Monitor main screen.

Watching Spot Monitor

After clicking OK from the Spot Monitor configuration screen (see section 4), Spot Monitor loads with the selected camera(s) streaming live video.

By default, camera overlays are placed in the top-left corner of each video player. If desired, you can re-position the overlay by clicking and dragging the overlay box.
                                                          

Alert Interrupts

If the Enable alert interrupts box is checked in the Spot Monitor Configuration dialog box, and an alert is generated on the appliance, and the Spot Monitor switches to a full-screen view of the alert camera, with additional information about the alert.

• Motion Alert
• Face Comparison Alert
• Advanced Object Alert

Alert Viewer

Overview

3VR Alert Viewer is a client software add-on that notifies users when an event occurs matching one of the alerts they have configured in 3VR OpCenter. For example, if a loss-prevention officer creates an alert for faces matching a watch list of known shoplifters, and a similar face is detected, an Alert Viewer notification pops up on the client computer (optionally accompanied by a sound).

System Requirements

3VR Alert Viewer™ client software allows you to access a 3VR 3VR appliance from any PC on your network that meets the minimum system requirements. Go to the 3VR Partners Support Portal and review the Supported Operating Systems document for information regarding the system requirements for using 3VR Alert Viewer.

Installing Alert Viewer

See chapter 1 for instructions on installing Alert Viewer.

Signing In

Follow these steps to sign in to Alert Viewer:

1. Double-click the 3VR Alert Viewer desktop icon to launch the application. Alternatively, click the Windows Start menu > All Programs > 3VR Client Software > 3VR Alert Viewer.
2. At the sign-in screen, enter the User Name and Password of your 3VR user account.
3. Select a VMS server to connect to:
   • If this is your first time signing in to Alert Viewer on this PC, type the IP address of the 3VR system in the Appliance field. This is the 9 digit address provided to you by the 3VR administrator, in the format XXX.XXX.XXX. For example, 10.100.2.42.
   • If you have signed into Alert Viewer previously on this PC, open the Appliance drop-down menu and select the system to connect to.
4. 4. Click Sign In.

Configuring Alert Viewer

This section describes how to configure alerts.

Alert Viewer Behavior

Follow these steps to configure the behavior of Alert Viewer:

...

Alert Card Display

The alert card format buttons allow you to customize the style and size of alert notifications cards. There are card styles for Storyboard View and Snapshot View.

...

1. Click the icon for the card style.
2. Select a size for the alert cards (Small, Medium, or Large).
   

Viewing and Acknowledging Alerts

When an alert is triggered, an alert card appears in Alert Viewer and Alert Viewer pops up to the foreground of the user’s computer.

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