08_Navigating: Media Playback Functions

This blogpost will cover the media playback controls and keyboard shortcuts 

The media file can be navigating using the media playback controls - using either the mouse or keyboard shortcuts (note, hovering the mouse over each control highlights the keyboard shortcut). Getting familiar with the media controls and especially the keyboard shortcuts is vital for efficient coding. 

There are two sets of media playback controls, the main media controls and selection controls. These are described below. 

Main media controls 

The main media controls (see figure 1, below) allow the media file to be navigated frame-by-frame, second-by-second, or pixel-by-pixel. Thus, these media controls allow for more fine-tuned coding. In addition, the media file can be played/paused and navigated quickly between the beginning to end. 

Figure 1: Image depicting the main media controls and their keyboard shortcuts (Windows - left; Mac - right). 

Selection media controls 

The second set of media controls, the selection controls (see figure 2, below), allow the media to be navigated annotation by annotation. For these controls to work, the 'selection mode' function must be ticked. There are four main controls:  

Play Selection: the selected annotation is played (note, in combination with Loop Mode, the annotation can be played multiple times).

Clear Selection: the previously selected annotation is deselected 

Move crosshair: the crosshair can be moved to the left or right of the selected annotation

Left/right/up/down: the direction keys allow the previous, next, upper or lower annotation to be easily selected. 

Figure 2: Image depicting the selection controls and their keyboard shortcuts