Metadata Designer Creating a Marker

In FlexMAM, Markers are used to add frame-based metadata to your assets. They provide an easy way to reference a specific point or range in a media asset and allow you to annotate and attach metadata to a certain part of an asset. You can search for metadata attached to individual markers in FlexMAM. You customize markers with custom icons and metadata definitions to match your needs.  Markers can indicate a single point in time or a range of time.  The time code information, marker type and any additional information is saved as part of the metadata of the asset it is attached to. 

In FlexMAM, you can use custom markers to log segments in an asset. For example, while viewing a video from the Manage page (an asset opened in full-screen display in Flex MAM), you can insert in and out points to mark a segment. You can then select a custom marker to identify the segment and enter a comment or other metadata. Other users can see the markers in the Custom Markers tab of an asset. To simplify managing markers, you can create multiple markers types and associate them to groups. 

You must configure a marker in the Metadata Designer before it is displayed and you can use it in FlexMAM. Every marker must be associated to a Type and must have a metadata definition associated to it. Markers can be associated to the following asset types: media, clip, and segmented assets. You can create a marker using an existing type and and existing metadata definition or you can create a new type and a new metadata definition.

To configure a marker, you create a:

• Type
• Metadata Definition

Creating a Type

A marker must be associated to a Type. Click here for additional information on Types in Dalet Flex and for detailed instructions on how to create a new type.

To create a type:

1. In the Metadata Designer, on the left-hand toolbar, select the option.
2. Click the icon and enter the required details
3. Click Create.
   
   

Creating a Metadata Definition for a Marker

Every marker must be associated to a metadata definition. You add metadata to your marker using the fields that you add to the metadata definition.  For example, if you wanted to associate a marker to the frame in your asset where a goal is scored, you populate the metadata definition with fields that describe the goal, who scored it etc. 

You can use an existing metadata definition or create a new definition for your markers. Click here for additional information on managing metadata and for detailed instructions on how to Create a Metadata Definition.

To create a metadata definition:

1. In the Metadata Designer, on the left-hand toolbar, select the option.
2. Click the icon and enter the required details
   
   
    
3. In the metadata canvas, drag and drop the fields you want to add to your definition and configure the metadata fields.
   
   
    
4. Click the Save icon and select the Enabled checkbox.

Creating a Marker

A marker must be associated to a Type and also to a metadata definition that contains the fields you use when you are logging an asset.

To create a marker:

1. In the Metadata Designer in the Type option,  go to the type that you want to associate the marker to.
2. In the Timeline column, if no markers exist for the type, click the  sign . If markers already exist, click the icon to show the list of existing markers, and then click the  icon to the right of Timeline Configuration.
   
   
3. In the Create Timeline dialog, enter the details for the marker.
   
   
    
4. In the Display Name field, enter a display name.
5. When you enter a display name, the Name field is automatically populated to match the Display Name field. You can change this name if required, the value must not have spaces.
6. From the Type drop down, select Metadata. This lets you associate a metadata definition to the marker. 
   
   
    
7. From the Metadata Schema drop down, select the metadata definition that you want to associate with the marker. 
8. From the Group drop down, select a group (this is optional). Group names must be between 2 and 40 characters and only include alphanumeric characters and hyphens, e.g., Football Match. Click here for more information on Groups.
9. Click Create.
10. When the marker has been created, an icon is displayed in the  TIMELINE column with a counter indicating how many markers are associated with that particular type.
    
    
     
11. Click on the eye icon to see the details of the markers. 

Uploading a Custom Icon for a Marker 

You can upload an image to be used as the icon for a marker. The size limit for an image is 1MB.

To upload a custom icon for a marker :

1. Click Update icon, , in the marker.
   
   
    
2. Drag and drop an image into the Select Icon box or click in the upload area and manually browse to the file.
   
   
    
3. Select an image and it is added to the marker.
   
   

In FlexMAM, markers added to an asset are displayed in the Custom Markers tab.



 

Creating a Group of Markers

You can apply multiple custom markers to an asset and these appear in a list to the Custom Markers tab in FlexMAM. For example, when you use markers to log an asset, you add different information, such as technical, editorial, review etc. To differentiate between the information, you create different custom markers and you can assign different icons to the markers. To further manage the markers, you can create a Group, add different markers to that group and in FlexMAM sort your list of markers by the Group. 

To create a Group:

1. Create a marker of any type as explained above.
2. In the Group field enter a name for the group. Group names must be between 2 and 40 characters and only include alphanumeric characters and hyphens.
3. If you create  a new marker and want to add it to an existing group, start typing the name of the group in the Group field, and select it from the drop down. For example, in a group called Review you might decide to add markers such as Interview, Censorship etc. 
   
   
4. You can move a marker into another existing group, as well as create a new group, directly under the Group heading in the Timeline Configuration list.
   
   
5. To delete a marker from a group, click the Delete icon. If there are no markers in a group, the group is automatically deleted.

In FlexMAM, add the Group field to your Markers display template and sort the markers using the Group column.