A Quick Introduction:
The RAD Video Tools are a set of utilities for processing video, animation, and sound data. They feature both of our video codecs: Bink Video, our latest 24-bit true-color codec, and Smacker, our 8-bit 256-color codec.
Bink Video is a "better-than-DVD" video codec. That is, it compresses better than DVD at up to three times the playback speed! Bink is a hybrid block-transform and wavelet codec that can encode your video using 16 different compression techniques (wavelet, DCT, motion compensation, a variety of vector quantizers, Smacker-style, and more). With all of these techniques in one codec, Bink can handle pretty much any type of video. It also has a psycho-acoustic based audio codec that is capable of 8 to 1 perceptually lossless compression, so your audio will sound as good as your video looks!
Smacker is our 256-color compressor for video and animation. It has used in all aspects of multimedia application design: cinematics, cut-scenes, video-sprites, transparent videos, single-image decompression, scrolling video backgrounds, and more. Smacker has been used in over 2,000 games because it's fast, it's easy-to-license, it has a terrific SDK, and its video quality is unrivaled in 256 color mode.
We hope the RAD Video Tools do everything you need them to! If you have any questions, comments, requests, or even flames, don't hesitate to call or e-mail.
File name: Enter the filename that you want to work with here.
For example, if you just want to play a file, then just highlight it and click the "Play" button. You can change the default playback parameters in the "Advanced play" window.
Files of type: By default, the RAD Video Tools will display all media files, but you can use this pulldown to change the file selection list.
Bink it: This button opens the Bink compressor window where you can compress your movies with our true-color Bink codec.
Smack it: This button opens the Smacker compressor window where you can compress your movies with the Smacker codec.
Advanced play: The "Advanced Play" button opens the playback options screen, where you can customize the settings to use to on playback of your video. Advanced play options are available for Bink and Smacker files. If you've highlighted a Bink file, then the Bink Advanced play screen will open. Similarly, if you highlight a Smacker file, and hit the "Advanced Play" button, then the Smacker Advanced play window, which is a little different, will open.
Mix in sound: This button opens the Bink or Smacker audio mixer. You only need to use the audio mixer when you want to replace or add another audio track to a video file. Normally, you won't have to utilize this feature, because our compressors will automatically compress the audio track of an AVI or QuickTime file in with the video frames.
Convert a file: The RAD converter can convert almost any type of file to another type. For example, you can convert a bunch of BMPs into an AVI, GIFs into JPEGs, Smackers into flics, QuickTimes into AVIs, wave files into different sample rates, 24-bit images into 8-bit images, etc.
Analyze file: The "Analyze" button opens one of the handiest features in the RAD Video Tools. It displays a visual representation of a Bink or Smacker file's data rate.
List files: You can create a list file by clicking this button. A list file is a text file that contains a list of other file names that you want to be treated as one big file. This allows you to compress multiple input files into one output file.
New version?: Use this to check your Bink version. It is a quick and easy way to make sure you're always using the latest-and-greatest update to the RAD Video Tools.
Batch: This button will start the RAD Batch editor. You can use the batch editor to create a list of tasks that can be run unattended.
File info: Click the "File info" button to display a description of the highlighted media file.
System info: The "System info" button displays information about your computer.
Help: A mouse click on the "Help" button will open your browser window to this Help page.
FAQs: If you click the "FAQs" button, your browser will open our Frequently Asked Questions page.
About: The "About" button will open a window that gives you version information on the RAD Video Tools.
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