The Media9 Package, v0.69: Alexander Grahn
The Media9 Package, v0.69: Alexander Grahn
The Media9 Package, v0.69: Alexander Grahn
69
Alexander Grahn
Abstract
A LATEX package for embedding interactive Adobe Flash (SWF) and 3D
files (Adobe U3D & PRC) as well as video and sound files or streams
(FLV, MP4/H.246, MP3) into PDF documents with Adobe Reader-9/X
compatibility.
Keywords: embed flash movie LaTeX pdf 3d include sound swf mp3 video
mp4 h.264 aac slideshow image gallery flv audio multimedia streamed media
rtmp YouTube animation JavaScript pdfLaTeX dvips ps2pdf dvipdfmx
XeLaTeX u3d prc Adobe Reader Foxit RichMedia annotation LuaLaTeX
Contents
1 Introduction 2
2 Requirements 3
3 Installation 3
8 Caveats 37
9 Acknowledgements 38
1
1 Introduction
This package provides an interface to embed, in the first place, interactive
Flash (SWF) and 3D objects (Adobe U3D & PRC) into PDF documents. Video
and audio files or streams in the popular MP4, FLV and MP3 formats can
be embedded as well. However, a media player Flash component is required
for playback, as will be explained shortly. Playback of multimedia files uses
Adobe Flash Player, which was bundled with Adobe Reader 9 and 10 versions.
Unfortunately, beginning with Adobe Reader 11, it must be installed as a separate
plug-in.
Among the supported media types, video and sound files require an additional
Flash (SWF) application for playback, which must be either embedded into the
PDF or loaded at runtime from the internet. There are numerous such players,
both open-source and commercial, available on the internet. One of them is the
highly configurable open-source StrobeMediaPlayback.swf [1], maintained by
Adobe and hosted on SourceForge.net. Package media9 comes with an enhanced
version of StrobeMediaPlayback.swf. In addition, two simple players for video
and audio, VPlayer.swf and APlayer.swf are included, which can be used
instead. They provide sufficient functionality for playing embedded files and
streamed media.
There is yet another player bundled with media9. It is a simple image gallery
viewer called SlideShow.swf which can display collections of embedded and
remote images in the PNG, JPEG and GIF file formats. Remote images are
downloaded at viewing time and can be configured to be refreshed at definite
time intervals.
Flash Player supports the efficient H.264 codec for video compression. MP4/H.264
video files can be encoded from existing video files and from numbered bitmap
sequences using the ffmpeg (http://ffmpeg.org) or avconv (http://libav.
org) command line tools (Libav is a fork from the FFmpeg code). In order to
allow for precise seeking within video files it is necessary to encode them with
a sufficient number of key frames. The command line for recoding an existing
video file video.avi into video.mp4 reads (one line; ffmpeg can be substituted
with avconv)
ffmpeg -i video.avi -vf scale="trunc(iw/2)*2:trunc(ih/2)*2"
-c:v libx264 -profile:v high -pix_fmt yuv420p -g 30 -r 30 video.mp4
Both examples insert a key frame (option -g) at every second since the frame
rate is set to 30 fps. The video encoder requires even pixel numbers in both
dimensions which is ensured by adding -vf scale="..." to the option list.
Note: media9 package replaces the now obsolete movie15 package. media9 is
based on the RichMedia Annotation (Annotations are the interactive elements
in a document, in PDF specification parlance.), an Adobe addition to the PDF
2
specification [2], while movie15 uses the old multimedia framework (Screen
Annotation) of pre-9 Readers which depends on third-party plug-ins and which
does not support recent media file formats.
Package media9 supports the usual PDF making workflows, i. e. pdfLATEX,
LuaLATEX, LATEX dvips ps2pdf/Distiller and (XE)LATEX (x)dvipdfmx.
The final PDF can be viewed in current Adobe Readers on MS Windows and
other platforms. On Unix platforms including Linux, however, support of Flash,
video and sound was discontinued at Reader version 9.4.2, probably for security
reasons. PDF documents which target Adobe Reader 9.4.1 for Linux should use
VPlayer9.swf and APlayer9.swf (also included in the media9 package). These
media player components are compatible with the older Flash Player 9 plugin
that is bundled with the Reader for Linux. Recent versions of Foxit PDF Reader,
which is available on the Windows platform, are known to render embedded
Flash, video and audio content. Foxit also uses Adobe Flash Player plugin. On
tablets and phones running Android or iOS, ezPDF Reader was reported to play
video and sound files embedded with media9.
2 Requirements
l3kernel (LATEX package), version 2015/09/27
l3packages (LATEX package), version 2015/09/27
pdfTEX, version 1.30
Ghostscript, version 8.31 or Adobe Distiller for PS to PDF conversion
dvipdfmx, version 20120420 for DVI to PDF conversion
Adobe Reader, version 9, but not greater than 9.4.1 on Linux; Foxit Reader
(Flash, video, audio)
3 Installation
MiKTEX and TEXLive users should run the package manager for installation
and updates.
Otherwise, a manual installation into the local TeX-Directory-Structure (TDS)
root directory is done along the following steps:
1. Download the TDS compliant package file media9.tds.zip from CTAN.
2. Find the local TDS root directory by running
kpsewhich -var-value TEXMFLOCAL
on the command line. The local TDS root directory is intended for packages
that are not maintained by the TEXLive package manager.
3. Unzip media9.tds.zip into the local TDS root directory previously found.
Depending on the location of this directory, you may need to be logged in
as Root/Administrator.
3
4. After installation, update the filename database by running texhash on
the command line. Again, Root/Administrator privileges may be required.
For updating the package, repeat the steps given above.
Except for dvipdfmx, xetex and bigfiles, the options above are also avail-
able (among others) as command options and will be explained shortly. However,
if used as package options they have global scope, taking effect on all embedded
media in the document. In turn, command options locally override global set-
tings. Options without an argument are boolean options and can be negated by
appending =false.
XELATEX will be auto-detected. Therefore package option xetex is optional.
However, in the case of dvipdfmx, package option dvipdfmx is mandatory
because it cannot be auto-detected.
4
Important: If PDF is generated via DVI and Postscript by the command se-
quence latex dvips ps2pdf, dvips option -Ppdf should not be set when
converting the intermediate DVI into Postscript. If you cannot do without, put
-D 1200 after -Ppdf on the command line. Users of LATEX-aware text editors
with menu-driven toolchain invocation, such as TEXnicCenter, should check the
configuration of the dvips call.
Option bigfiles is only relevant for the latex dvips ps2pdf work-
flow. It may be needed if large media files cause latex to abort with error
TeX capacity exceeded. See Sect. 8.
\includemedia[<options>]{<poster text>}{
<main Flash (SWF) file or URL | 3D (PRC, U3D) file>}
The last argument, <main Flash (SWF) file or URL | 3D (PRC, U3D) file>,
is the main interactive application to be inserted into the PDF. In the case of
Flash, this can be a local SWF file, or a URL, such as a YouTube video player. A
local file will become part of the final PDF file, while Flash content from a URL
requires an internet connection when the user activates it in Adobe Reader. A
URL must be fully qualified, i. e., starting with either http[s]:// or ftp://.
As for 3D content, Adobe Reader only supports U3D or PRC files embedded in
the PDF; they cannot be loaded or streamed during runtime. The most frequent
use of \includemedia will likely be embedding video or sound files for playback
in Adobe Reader. For this we need some media player, which is an SWF file we
embed as our main application. It will be configured to load, upon activation, a
particular video or sound file that was embedded as a resource into the PDF
or is to be streamed from the internet. This will be shown later. Note that a
local file (main application or resource) will only once be physically embedded
in order to keep the final PDF file size small. If the same file (identified by MD5
checksum) appears in other \includemedia commands, only a reference will be
inserted that points to the same storage location in the PDF.
Argument <poster text> defines the size of the rectangular region of the doc-
ument page in which the media will be displayed. Moreover, <poster text>
will be shown in case the media has not been activated. <poster text> can
be anything that LATEX can typeset, such as an \includegraphics command
serving as a poster image, a PGF/TikZ/PSTricks inline graphics or just ordinary
text. Alternatively, <poster text> can be left blank in which case the size of the
media rectangle should be set with options width and height. If a non-zero
size <poster text> was provided, it can be resized using any combination of
options width, height or totalheight, keepaspectratio and scale.
5
A list of directories where TEX searches for media and resource files can be set-up
by means of
\addmediapath{<directory>}
This command appends one directory at a time to the search list. To specify more
directories, just use it repeatedly. The path separator is always /, independent
from the operating system.
The following section explains all command options provided. They are passed
to the media inclusion command as a comma separated list enclosed in a pair of
square brackets.
A subset of the command options (see Sect. 4) can also be used as package
options, which lets them apply to all embedded media. Some of the options listed
here are meaningful only for a specific media type (either Flash or 3D), which
will be noted explicitly if not obvious. Dedicated sections covering Flash, video
and sound as well as 3D inclusion will follow later on in this document.
label=<label text>
The media annotation is given a label, <label text>, which should be unique.
Labelled media annotations can be targeted by the media actions of a control
button (see description of the \mediabutton command in Sect. 5.3). Moreover,
a reference to the RichMedia Annotation object (of type AnnotRichMedia)
is assigned to the JavaScript variable annotRM[<label text>] in order to
facilitate its access in JavaScript. Note that the JavaScript reference is known
only after the first opening of the page containing the media.
width=<h-size>,
height=<v-size> | totalheight=<v-size>,
keepaspectratio
scale=<factor>
Every invocation of this option embeds another local file that is required to
run the main Flash application or 3D file (last argument of \includemedia).
6
Typically, this option is used to embed video files, media player skins, XML files
(such as databases), additional objects to appear in a 3D scene etc. If an already
embedded file is needed in another \includemedia command, this option must
be given there again. However, the file in question will only once be physically
embedded in order to keep the PDF file small.
flashvars={<some_var=some_val&another_var=another_val&...>}
implies
flashvars={vid=path/to/video.mp4&...}
if, for a particular media player, the video source is set through ActionScript
variable vid.
(Note for 3D) Resource files used in 3D scenes cannot be loaded by means of
ActionScript variables. This must be done by 3D JavaScript during activation
of the 3D scene in the Reader. 3D JavaScript can be attached using option
add3Djscript, see below.
attachfiles
If set, embedded files can be downloaded from the PDF via the Attachments
navigation pane in the Reader.
activate=onclick | pageopen | pagevisible
7
draft
final
With draft the media is not embedded. Instead, a box is inserted that has the
dimensions of <poster text>, subject to the resizing options width, height,
totalheight and scale. Option final does the opposite as it forces the
media to be embedded. Both options can be used to reduce compilation time
during authoring of a document. To get the most out of them it is recommended
to set draft globally as a package or class option and to set final locally as
a command option of the media annotation that is currently worked on. After
the document has been finished, the global draft option can be removed.
playbutton[= fancy | plain | none]
noplaybutton
By default, a transparent play button is laid over the inactive media annotation
to draw the readers attention to the embedded multimedia content. It is provided
in two versions, fancy and plain, but only plain is available in the XELATEX
workflow. The default setting is to try the fancy version. noplaybutton or
playbutton=none disable the play button overlay.
windowed[= false | [<width>x<height>][@<position>] ]
(Flash only) If set, user right-clicks are passed through to the context menu of the
embedded Flash application, replacing the default Adobe Reader context menu.
Useful for cases where the Flash programmer provided additional functionality
through the context menu of his application.
3Dtoolbar
8
If set, the 3D navigation pane displaying the 3D Model Tree becomes visible in
the Reader when the content is initially activated.
3Dcoo=<x> <y> <z>
<x> <y> <z> specify the positional vector COO of the centre of orbit of the
virtual camera. Real numbers in fixed and floating point notation are accepted.
3Dc2c=<x> <y> <z>
<x> <y> <z> specify a direction vector C2C of arbitrary length, originating in
the centre of orbit and pointing to the virtual camera. Real numbers in fixed
and floating point notation are accepted.
3Droll=<roll>
Prescribes an initial camera roll around the optical axis (in clockwise direction,
if <roll> is greater that zero); measured in degrees and given as fixed or floating
point real number.
3Dc2w=<12 element camera-to-world matrix>
Expert option which directly sets either the /PS entry in the case of perspective
projection or the /OB entry in the case of orthographic projection to one of the
four possible values. Default value is Min.
3Droo=<r>
<r> is a positive fixed or floating point number specifying the radius of orbit
ROO of the virtual camera. Good values can be found by means of the 3Dmenu
option.
3Daac=<angle>
This option sets the aperture angle of the camera, measured in degrees, for the
perspective view mode. Fixed and floating point real numbers between 0 and
180 are admissible. A sensible value of 30 is pre-set by default. Larger values can
be used to achieve wide-angle or fish-eye effects. See example 10 in section 7.1.
This option excludes the use of the 3Dortho option.
3Dortho[=<orthographic scaling factor>]
9
3Dmenu
Mainly used during document authoring. Adds three entries, Generate Default
View , Get Current View and Cross Section to the context (right-click) menu
of an activated 3D annotation. Moreover, it allows single parts or part groups
of the scene to be scaled, translated and rotated against the remaining scene
objects using the keyboard. Their new position can be saved in the current
view (Get Current View ). At first, parts to be modified must be highlighted by
clicking either into the scene or into the 3D Model Tree (the parts bounding
box becomes visible). Then, arrow keys , let the part spin around the
vertical axis, and , tilt against it. In order to spin parts around their
local up-axis, keep ctrl pressed while using and . Keys X , + X ,
Y , + Y , Z , + Z translate the selected part along the World axes,
and S , + S scale the part.
Generate Default View computes optimal camera settings such that the visible
parts of the 3D scene fit tightly into the viewing area. The result is printed,
formatted as a list of \includemedia options, into the JavaScript console. The
calculation is based on the 3D object size and its position in the World coordinate
system as well as the current viewing mode (perspective or orthographic).
Cross Section is a toggle switch to add or remove a cross section to or from
the current view. If a part of the 3D scene was previously selected, the central
rotating point of the cutting plane is put into the parts centre, otherwise into
the target point of the camera. The cutting plane can be rotated around the
vertical axis and tilted against its upright position using the arrow keys ,
, and . Keys X , + X , Y , + Y , Z , + Z move the
cutting plane along the World axes, and S , + S scale its size.
Get Current View writes camera settings, any part alterations, an optional cross
section as well as part and scene rendering attributes of the current view into
the JavaScript console. The output is a readily formatted VIEW section to be
inserted into or appended to a file of predefined views. See option 3Dviews. All
settings reachable via the Part Options and Viewing Options context menu
items are written to the VIEW section.
3Dbg=<r> <g> <b>
This option sets the background colour of the 3D scene. Only fixed point real
numbers in the range from 0 to 1 are allowed for the colour components. Option
transparent may not be set at the same time.
3Dlights=<lighting scheme>
Sets the default lighting scheme. The following values are honoured: None,
White, Day, Night, Hard, Primary, Blue, Red, Cube, CAD, HeadLamp.
The default is to use the lighting scheme as specified within the 3D artwork.
3Drender=Solid | Transparent[:<opacity>] | ...
Sets the default render mode of the scene. The following values are honoured:
Solid, SolidWireframe, Transparent, TransparentWireframe,
BoundingBox, TransparentBoundingBox, TransparentBoundingBoxOutline,
Wireframe, ShadedWireframe, HiddenWireframe, Vertices,
ShadedVertices, SolidOutline, Illustration, ShadedIllustration.
10
Options Transparent and TransparentWireframe take an optional value
between 0 and 1 that controls the opacity of the rendered 3D object.
3Dpartsattrs=restore | keep
When the user selects another view from the list of predefined views (see option
3Dviews), attributes of individual parts, such as opacity, visibility, render mode,
translation in space, which all can be set from within the Reader or by means
of a file of predefined views, are reset to their original states as defined in
the embedded 3D file, before any new part settings are applied. This default
behaviour can be overridden by 3Dpartsattrs=keep. This will preserve current
part attributes when the user selects another predefined 3D view in the Reader.
3Dviews=<views file>
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TRANSFORM=<12 element transformation matrix>
END
PART=<...>
...
END
etc.
END
VIEW
...
END
etc.
A view section starts with the keyword VIEW, optionally followed by a name for
the view, and ends with the keyword END. If no name is given to the view, a
default one is created, consisting of View followed by the number of the current
VIEW section in the file. A VIEW section may contain optional entries for setting
the camera position and global rendering attributes of the scene, a CROSSSECT
subsection as well as PART subsections for setting rendering and other attributes
of parts individually. Table 1 lists the entries in a VIEW section.
Part sub-sections are opened by PART=<part name> and closed by END. There
may be as many part subsections as there are parts in a 3D scene. Table 2 lists
the possible entries in a PART sub-section. All entries are optional. However, a
UTF16NAME entry is recommended, as the part name may contain non-ASCII
characters. The value of the UTF16NAME key is the part name as a hex-encoded
Unicode string. If UTF16NAME is not used, the part name in the 3D file must be
entirely composed of ASCII characters. In that case, <part name> is mandatory
and must match the part name as indicated in the 3D Model Tree of the 3D
object (accessible via right-click onto the model in the Reader). The part can be
scaled and repositioned by means of a TRANSFORM entry which takes a 12-element
transformation matrix as its value. Remaining entries in a part sub-section
control the visual appearance of the part.
A view section may contain at most one CROSSSECT sub-section. It inserts a
cutting plane at a definite position and orientation in the 3D space, controlled
by optional CENTER and NORMAL entries. The appearance characteristics of the
cutting plane and the intersection of the plane with the 3D geometry are
controlled by optional OPACITY, VISIBLE, PLANECOLOR, INTERSECTIONVISIBLE,
INTERSECTIONCOLOR entries. See Table 3 for explanation.
The views file can be commented. As usual, comments start with the percent
sign.
To facilitate the creation of a views file, option 3Dmenu can be added to
\includemedia (see above). It creates context (right-click) menu entry Get
Current View which outputs a complete VIEW section corresponding to the
current view of the 3D object in the Reader, including camera position, an
optional cross section, and all part and viewing options that can be modified
via the 3D toolbar (option 3Dtoolbar) or the context menu of the 3D object
(entries Part Options, Viewing Options). Hence, apart from tweaking one or
12
another entry, there should be no need for writing views files by hand.
3Dplaytype=linear | oscillating
This option can be used to adjust the keyframe animation speed. A value of 1
corresponds to the default speed defined in the 3D file.
add3Djscript=<3D JavaScript file>,
add3Djscript=<another 3D JavaScript file>,
...
Things like animation, lighting, background of 3D objects etc. may also be script
driven. Every invocation of add3Djscript associates another JavaScript file with
the 3D object. Upon activation of the 3D object, the scripts are executed once in
the order of their inclusion. Refer to the Acrobat 3D JavaScript Reference [3] for
syntax details. The following 3D JavaScript loads an image file that was attached
by addresource=images/sunset.jpg and uses it as the scene background.
sunset = new Image(new Resource(pdf://images/sunset.jpg));
reh = new RenderEventHandler();
reh. {
runtime.removeEventHandler(this);
event.canvas.background.image=sunset;
}
runtime.addEventHandler(reh);
13
Table 1: Entries in a VIEW section.
14
Table 2: Entries in a PART sub-section.
15
5.3 Control buttons
If specified, the media button changes its appearance when the mouse pointer is
moved over it. Without this option, the button appearance does not change. An
\includegraphics command may need to be enclosed in braces.
If specified, the media button changes its appearance when the mouse button is
pressed while the pointer is over it. An \includegraphics command may need
to be enclosed in braces.
tooltip=<tip text>
A box with <tip text> is shown when the mouse pointer is moved over the
button.
3Dgotoview=<label text>[:<view specification>]
Selects a view from the list of predefined views associated with a 3D media
inclusion (see option 3Dviews). The target media is specified by <label text>,
as defined by the label option of \includemedia. <label text> alone without
a view specification simply activates the 3D object if not yet activated. <view
specification> which is separated from the label by a colon (:) can be one of
the following: an integer specifying the zero-based index into the list of views in
the 3D views file; one of D, F, L, N, P indicating the default, first, last, next
or previous view in the list of views; a string delimited by ( and ) matching
the name of a view as specified by the VIEW=... entry in the views file. The
option can be given several times to simultaneously change the view in more than
one 3D inclusion. However, it cannot be used to create an animation effect within
the same 3D inclusion, because 3Dgotoview actions are executed in parallel.
mediacommand=<label text>[:<command> [(<arg1>) (<arg2>) ...]]
16
or to execute several commands for the same media. Depending on the type of
the target media (3D or Flash), <command> is either the name of a JavaScript
function defined in a 3D JavaScript file associated with the 3D media (see option
add3Djscript) or the name of an ActionScript function that was exposed by
the embedded Flash file. ActionScript functions are exposed to the scripting
context of the hosting document by using the ExternalInterface call within
the Flash file. Arguments to be passed to <command> must be enclosed in (
and ) and separated by spaces, the whole list be finally enclosed in [ and
], even if there is only a single argument. Arguments can be of Boolean type
(true, false), numbers (integer, reals) and strings. The number of arguments
and their types must match the definition of the function to be called. Media
players VPlayer.swf and APlayer.swf shipping with media9 expose a num-
ber of ActionScript functions that can be used with this option (see Tab. 6).
<command> [(<arg1>) (<arg2>) ...] must be enclosed in braces if there are
embedded equals signs or commas. Examples of using mediacommand are given
in Figs. 2 and 6c.
jsaction=[<label text>:]{<JavaScript code>}
See above.
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6 Embedding Flash, video and sound,
image slide-shows
A YouTube video clip, as shown in Fig. 1, may serve as a basic example of
loading Flash content from a URL to be displayed in an embedded fashion
in a PDF document. Indeed, a YouTube clip is nothing more than a small
SWF file which loads a video stream and other necessary resources, such as
user controls and a player skin from a remote server. It can be configured via
ActionScript variables to play several videos in a row, to play a video in a
loop etc. Player parameters are documented on http://code.google.com/apis/
youtube/player_parameters.html and can be passed to the player using either
the flashvars option, as in the example, or appended to the URL string after
the video ID. A question mark ? must be put between the video ID and the
parameter string. Some of the documented parameters, such as rel, seem to
have an effect only if they are passed as part of the URL.
\includemedia[
width=0.6\linewidth,height=0.3375\linewidth, % 16:9
activate=pageopen,
flashvars={
modestbranding=1 % no YT logo in control bar
&autohide=1 % controlbar autohide
&showinfo=0 % no title and other info before start
&rel=0 % no related videos after end
}
]{}{http://www.youtube.com/v/r382kfkqAF4?rel=0}
Media files (video, sound, images) are always loaded and then played by a media
player application. Four players are installed along with the media9.sty package
file: three simple players for video (VPlayer.swf), sound (APlayer.swf) and slide-
shows of embedded and/or remote (live or static) image files (SlideShow.swf),
and the fully blown third-party media player StrobeMediaPlayback.swf with
some fixes to improve its usability. The simple players are chromeless, that is,
they do not have graphical user controls. Nevertheless, interactivity is provided
through left mouse button press and release for playing, pausing, resuming
playback, through the players context menu (right-click), and through the
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keyboard as summarized in Table 4. The player apps were compiled using the
open-source Apache Flex SDK [5] from XML source files which reside in the
doc/ folder of the package installation. For StrobeMediaPlayback.swf, only a
patch file is included, as the sources can be downloaded elsewhere.
The improvements of StrobeMediaPlayback.swf in comparision to the original
version on SourceForge.net are
fix: video could not be restarted after end of playback if ActionScript
variable autoRewind is set to false
new: first frame of video is shown as default poster instead of black stage
new: play/pause video by clicking on the stage (as with VPlayer.swf),
useful in a lecture situation
There is no need to copy the installed players into the directory of the document
source for embedding. They will be found by LATEX without taking any further
action.
Like YouTube videos, media players are configured via ActionScript variables
which are passed using option flashvars. Table 5 lists parameters available for
VPlayer.swf, APlayer.swf and SlideShow.swf, Table 8 for StrobeMediaPlay-
back.swf.
Playback of embedded video files is shown in Fig. 2. Besides embedded files,
also video streamed from remote servers via HTTP and RTMP protocols is
supported, as shown in Fig. 5.
Sound files and streams in the MP3 format can be played with APlayer.swf.
Fig. 6 contains examples of an audio live stream and a remote MP3 sound file.
In one of the sound examples, the player is loaded from a CTAN mirror during
runtime because an internet connection is required anyway for streaming the
audio. If a local sound file is to be embedded into the PDF this would have to
be done in the same way as with the video file in one of the previous examples
using the addresource option.
The slide-show application SlideShow.swf requires a configuration file in the
XML file format. It specifies the URLs from which the images will be loaded
and may contain optional settings, such as image captions, refresh intervals
for live images and initial rotation. The syntax is documented in the config-
uration file template in Fig. 3. The file name of a configuration file is passed
to SlideShow.swf using the xml ActionScript variable. Note that for security
reasons the configuration file and SlideShow.swf must reside on the same server
or be both embedded into the PDF. Otherwise, a security error will be thrown
by the Flash Player plugin. A slide-show example is shown in Fig. 4.
VPlayer.swf, APlayer.swf and SlideShow.swf expose a number of ActionScript
functions to the JavaScript engine of Adobe Reader, allowing for playback control
of media through push buttons (see Sect. 5.3) and various trigger events. The
functions and their calling convention are listed in Tables 6 and 7. From within
JavaScript, these functions can be called using the callAS (= call ActionScript)
method of the AnnotRichMedia object. As an example, a call to the seek
function looks like
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annotRM.myvideo.callAS("seek", 12.3);
Both functions calls are sent to the media inclusion that was labelled myvideo
using the label option of \includemedia. An example of playing and pausing
a video clip and setting the video source via interactive push buttons is given in
Fig. 2.
(a)
keys action
Space play/pause
Home , End go to start/end
, seek backwards/forwards
, decrease/increase speaker volume
m mute/unmute
ctrl + , ctrl + , ctrl + (APlayer.swf only) change sound speaker
balance
(b)
keys action
Space play/pause auto-cycling through slides
, previous/next slide
Home , End go to first/last slide
r , R right/left rotate current slide by 90
Table 5: Parameters (ActionScript variables) for media players (a) VPlayer.swf
& APlayer.swf, (b) SlideShow.swf shipping with media9. Parameters are
passed as a &-separated string using flashvars option.
(a)
parameter description
source=<file path or URL> (required) path to embedded media
file (see option addresource), or URL
(http, rtmp) to online media file
autoPlay=true|false if =true, automatically starts play-
back after activation (see option
activation)
autoRewind=true|false (VPlayer.swf only) if =true, automatic-
ally rewind to the first frame after play-
back has finished; default is false
loop=true|false if =true, media is played in a loop
scaleMode=letterbox|none| default: letterbox; determines how to
stretch|zoom scale the video in order to fit into player
hideBar=true|false (APlayer.swf only) if =true, the progress
bar indicating the play position is not
shown
volume=<value between 0.0 sets volume of the sound
and 1.0>
balance=<value between (APlayer.swf only) sets balance of sound
-1.0 and 1.0> speakers
(b)
parameter description
xml=<file path or URL> (required) path to embedded (option
addresource) or URL of remote con-
figuration file
delay=<number> sets time delay in seconds for transition
between slides during playback, default:
5s
autoPlay=true|false if =true, automatically starts cycling
through slides after activation (see op-
tion activation)
21
Table 6: Exposed ActionScript functions of media players VPlayer.swf and
APlayer.swf that can be called from within media buttons (see Sect. 5.3) or
from JavaScript using the callAS method of the AnnotRichMedia JavaScript
object (see [4] for further information).
22
\includemedia[
label=some_dice,
width=0.6\linewidth,height=0.45\linewidth,
addresource=random.mp4, %two video files
addresource=cube.mp4,
transparent, %transparent player background
activate=pageopen,
passcontext, %show VPlayers right-click menu
flashvars={
source=random.mp4
&loop=true % loop video
}
]{}{VPlayer.swf}
\mediabutton[
mediacommand=some_dice:playPause,
overface=\color{blue}{\fbox{\strut Play/Pause}},
downface=\color{red}{\fbox{\strut Play/Pause}}
]{\fbox{\strut Play/Pause}}
\mediabutton[
mediacommand=some_dice:setSource [(random.mp4)]
]{\fbox{\strut random.mp4}}
\mediabutton[
mediacommand=some_dice:setSource [(cube.mp4)]
]{\fbox{\strut cube.mp4}}
Figure 2: Example of playing back two different embedded MP4 video files in
the same video player instance. The player, VPlayer.swf, is also embedded
in the PDF. Exposed ActionScript functions playPause and setSource of
VPlayer.swf (Table 6) are used to set-up media control buttons. Different
button faces have been defined for the Play/Pause button. Also, playback can
be contolled via the players context (right-click) menu or the keyboard.
23
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<SlideShow>
<!--
Configuration file template for SlideShow.swf
size="<width>x<height>"
may be given in the opening URL tag. <width pattern> and <height
pattern>, if present in the URL string, will be substituted with
the current display dimensions.
An image URL, given between <URL> and </URL>, can be absolute, that is,
starting with http://..., or relative to the location of SlideShow.swf.
24
Figure 3: Configuration file template (XML format) for SlideShow.swf
\includemedia[
width=\linewidth,height=\linewidth,
activate=pageopen,
addresource=config.xml, %embedded configuration
addresource=files/cubeposter.png, %embedded image file
flashvars={xml=config.xml},
passcontext %show the players context menu
]{}{SlideShow.swf}
Figure 4: Slide-show example with one embedded and several remote image files,
one of which is a live image. Images 2 and 3 are examples of remote images with
variable resolution; the best fitting image resolution is requested from the server
depending on the current display size. The listing in Fig. 3 is used as content of
file config.xml. Manually cycle forwards through the images by mouse-click or
backwards by +mouse-click. Play/pause auto-cycling through the slide-show
by hitting Space . Also, the context (right-click) menu of the player can be
used.
25
Table 7: Exposed ActionScript functions of slide-show player SlideShow.swf
that can be called from within media buttons or from JavaScript.
\includemedia[
width=0.6\linewidth,height=0.3375\linewidth, % 16:9
activate=pageopen,
flashvars={
src=rtmp://streaming.music.indiana.edu:1935/onDemand/mp4:media/%
20090327_VarRussianTheme-h264-480.m4v
&scaleMode=stretch
}
]{}{StrobeMediaPlayback.swf}
Figure 5: Example of video streamed from an RTMP server. This example uses
media player StrobeMediaPlayBack.swf, physically embedded in the PDF.
26
Table 8: Parameters (ActionScript variables) for StrobeMediaPlayback.swf
shipping with media9. Parameters are passed as a &-separated string using
flashvars option.
parameter description
src=<file path or URL> (required) path to embedded media
file (see option addresource), or URL
(http, rtmp) of online media file
autoPlay=true|false default: false; if =true, automatically
starts playback after activation (see op-
tion activation)
autoRewind=true|false default: true; if =false, keep last frame
after end of playback
loop=true|false if =true, media is played in a loop
scaleMode=letterbox|none| default: letterbox; determines how to
stretch|zoom scale the video in order to fit into player
controlBarMode=docked| default: docked; determines position and
floating|none visibility of control bar
controlBarAutoHide= default: true; automatically hide or not
true|false control bar
controlBarAutoHideTimeout= default: 3; time span before auto-hide
<number [s]>
volume=<value between 0.0 sets volume of the sound
and 1.0>
audioPan=<value between default: 0; sets balance of sound speakers
-1.0 and 1.0>
muted=true|false default: false; mute or not sound
27
\includemedia[
addresource=bird.mp3,
flashvars={
source=bird.mp3
&autoPlay=true
},
transparent,
passcontext %show APlayers right-click menu
]{\color{blue}\framebox[0.4\linewidth][c]{Singing bird}}{APlayer.swf}
\includemedia[
flashvars={
source=http://mp3.live.tv-radio.com/franceculture%
/all/franceculturehautdebit.mp3
&autoPlay=true
},
transparent,
passcontext %show APlayers right-click menu
]{\color{blue}\fbox{Listen live to Radio France Culture}}{%
http://mirrors.ibiblio.org/pub/mirrors/CTAN/macros/latex/%
contrib/media9/players/APlayer.swf%
}
\includemedia[
label=song49,
flashvars={source=http://www.openbsd.org/songs/song49.mp3},
transparent,
passcontext %show VPlayers right-click menu
]{\color{blue}\fbox{Listen to OpenBSD 4.9 release song}}{APlayer.swf}\\
\mediabutton[
mediacommand=song49:play[(5.5)],
mediacommand=song49:pause[(37)]
]{\fbox{First verse}}
\mediabutton[
mediacommand=song49:play[(39)],
mediacommand=song49:pause[(49)]
]{\fbox{The Answer}}
\mediabutton[
mediacommand=song49:play[(206.5)],
mediacommand=song49:pause[(221)]
]{\fbox{Harmonica solo}}
Figure 6: Example of (a) embedded sound file, (b) streamed audio and (c)
progressively downloaded MP3. ID3 tags title, artist and album are displayed
if contained in the MP3 stream or file. In (b), the sound player, APlayer.swf, is
loaded from a CTAN mirror upon activation.
28
\includemedia[
%activate=onclick, % default
addresource=cube.mp4,
flashvars={
source=cube.mp4
&autoPlay=true % start playing on activation
&loop=true
},
passcontext %show players right-click menu
]{\includegraphics[height=0.45\linewidth]{cubeposter}}{VPlayer9.swf}
\includemedia[
addresource=bird.mp3,
flashvars={
source=bird.mp3
&autoPlay=true
},
transparent,
passcontext %show players right-click menu
]{\color{blue}\framebox[0.4\linewidth][c]{Singing bird}}{APlayer9.swf}
Singing bird
Figure 7: Video and sound examples that should run in Adobe Reader for Linux
up to version 9.4.1. Here, players VPlayer9.swf and APlayer9.swf are used.
Both are compatible with Adobe Flash Player 9 plugin that is bundled with the
Reader. Also, the video player needs to be activated by mouse click (which is
the default). We provide a poster image that is shown in the inactive state.
29
7 Embedding 3D objects
7.1 Introduction
Adobe Acrobat/Reader 7 was the first version to allow for embedding 3-dimen-
sional graphic objects, such as CAD models or 3D scientific data, that can
be manipulated interactively by the user. U3D was the first supported format
and was mainly developed by Right Hemisphere and Adobe. U3D had some
deficiencies and was later replaced by the PRC format after Adobe purchased
the original developer, the French company Trade and Technology France. U3D
is still supported, but PRC is preferred as it allows for exact representation of
curved surfaces and better compression. Both, U3D and PRC specifications are
public [6, 7].
Currently, two open-source software packages are known to export into the PRC
file format. The first one is Asymptote [8], which is a descriptive 2D and 3D
vector graphics language and interpreter and which uses TEX to typeset labels
and equations. It allows for high quality mathematical figures and technical
drawings. An impressive gallery of examples can be found on its Web site. The
second one is MathGL [9], a library for scientific data visualization. It provides
interfaces to a number of programming and scripting languages as well as an
interpreter for its own command language MGL.
MeshLab [11] is an open-source conversion and processing software for 3D mesh
data which can import from and export to a number of file formats. Its U3D
export filter is based on the open-source Universal 3D Sample Software [10].
There are a few options to \includemedia which define how the 3D object is
positioned within the view port of a virtual camera, or conversely, how the
virtual camera is positioned and oriented within a coordinate system, called
The World, which bears the 3D object at a fixed position. Fig. 8 should help to
grasp the scenery: The virtual camera is orbiting at a distance of ROO (option
3Droo) around the centre of orbit, specified by the position vector COO (option
3Dcoo); ^AAC (option 3Daac) is the cameras aperture angle. The direction
vector C2C (option 3Dc2c) is needed to specify the initial camera position. The
camera may be given an initial roll angle (option 3Droll) around its optical
axis (1) C2C. Fig. 8 shows the camera parameters for the perspective view
mode. Alternatively, the orthographic view mode may be chosen. In orthographic
view, the 3D object is parallelly projected onto the virtual camera chip. Before
reaching the camera chip, the projected image must be scaled in order to fit onto
the chip. Orthographic view can be enabled using the 3Dortho option which
takes the scaling factor as its argument.
Above options define the default view, i. e. the view that is shown initially after
activating the 3D object in the Reader. Of course, once activated, the camera
position can be changed using the mouse and one can change forth and back
between perspective and orthographic viewing modes using the 3D tool bar.
By default, the virtual camera sits at the origin (0, 0, 0) of the World, looking
in the positive Y direction, i. e. default settings of 3Droo=0, 3Dcoo=0 0 0 and
3Dc2c=0 -1 0 are assumed. (Note that C2C is the opposite of the optical axis
30
Z
^AAC
ROO
Y
C2C
COO
(0, 0, 0)
vector.) Thus, in order to get a front view of the 3D object it is sufficient to set
the radius of orbit, i. e. the distance between camera and object appropriately.
Sometimes you may want to adjust the orbital centre, i. e. the target of the
camera as well, in particular, if the object is irregularly shaped or if it is not
centred around the World origin. Fortunately, it is possible to let the values of the
corresponding options be determined automatically. Choosing option 3Dmenu
adds Generate Default View to the context menu of the activated 3D scene.
Selecting this entry calculates and outputs optimal camera settings which can
be inserted into the option list of \includemedia.
Additional resource files that are needed to render the 3D scene can be embed-
ded using the addresource option. Typical resources are bitmaps and Flash
files (even animated and interactive ones), to be used as materials or scene
backgrounds, as well as additional 3D objects in the U3D or PRC file format.
The allowed file formats of bitmapped image files depend on the LATEXworkflow.
LATEX dvips ps2pdf/Distiller accepts PS and EPS files; pdfLATEX accepts
31
PNG, JPEG and JBIG2; (XE)LATEX (x)dvipdfmx accepts PNG and JPEG.
3D JavaScript is necessary to load these resources upon activation. 3D JavaScript
files are attached using the add3Djscript option.
Below, several examples of embedded 3D files are shown. The first one, Fig. 9
is a PRC file generated with Asymptote. Note the text labels always facing
the camera thanks to the attached 3D JavaScript file asylabels.js. The second
example, Fig. 10, demonstrates the use of a views file which defines additional
named views of the 3D object. Moreover, the possibilities of the extended 3D
context menu can be evaluated. They were enabled by adding the 3Dmenu option
to \includemedia. All part and scene rendering attributes that can be changed
via the Part Options and Viewing Options menu entries, as well as a cross
section to be added with the Cross Section menu entry can be saved into a
new view (Get Current View ). Position, orientation and scaling of individual
parts and of the cross section can be changed using the keyboard (keys ,
, , , X , + X , Y , + Y , Z , + Z , S , + S ). The
third example, Fig. 11, shows an animated 3D object. The animation itself and
the functions called by pressing the controls are defined in a 3D JavaScript file
attached to the model.
32
\includemedia[
width=0.8\linewidth,height=0.8\linewidth,
add3Djscript=asylabels.js, %upright text labels
add3Djscript=3Dspintool.js, %let scene rotate about z-axis
% 3Dcoo, 3Droo values found with Generate Default View from
% context menu
3Dmenu,
3Dc2c=4 2 3,
3Dcoo=4.413303375244141 2.195653200149536 -0.000011444091796875,
3Droo=429.49035778293376,
]{\includegraphics{epixposter}}{epix.prc}
Figure 9: Embedded PRC file produced with Asymptote, making use of conveni-
ence 3D JavaScripts asylabels.js and 3Dspintool.js mentioned above.
33
\includemedia[
label=dice,
width=0.5\linewidth,height=0.5\linewidth,
activate=pageopen,
3Dtoolbar, 3Dmenu,
3Dviews=dice.vws,
]{}{dice.u3d}
\mediabutton[3Dgotoview=dice:N]{\fbox{Next view}}
\mediabutton[3Dgotoview=dice:(Back)]{\fbox{View Back}}
\mediabutton[3Dgotoview=dice:5]{\fbox{6th view in the list}}
Contents of dice.vws:
VIEW=Front
ROO=27
END
VIEW=Back
ROO=27
C2C=0 1 0
END
VIEW=Left
ROO=27
C2C=-1 0 0
END
VIEW=Right
ROO=27
C2C=1 0 0
END
VIEW=Top
ROO=27
C2C=0 0 1
END
VIEW=Bottom
ROO=27
C2C=0 0 -1
END
VIEW=Fish Eye at Centre
AAC=130
END
Next view
View Back
6th view in the list
Figure 10: Embedded U3D file, based on a VRML model by Peter Whitehouse,
http://www.wonko.info/vrml/index.htm; conversion to U3D was done using
DeepExploration [12]. The file dice.vws provides predefined views. Buttons
are created with \mediabutton using the 3Dgotoview option.
34
\includemedia[
label=malte,
width=0.5\linewidth,height=0.5\linewidth,
activate=pageopen,
3Dmenu,
3Dc2c=1 1 1,
3Dcoo=-0.001042630523443222 1.4577869224116568e-19 0.028235001489520073,
3Droo=0.2604540212188131,
add3Djscript=malte.js
]{}{malte.u3d}
\mediabutton[
jsaction=malte:{annotRM[malte].context3D.cntrClockWise();}
]{\includegraphics[height=1.44em]{boutona}}
\mediabutton[
jsaction=malte:{annotRM[malte].context3D.pause();}
]{\includegraphics[height=1.44em]{boutonb}}
\mediabutton[
jsaction=malte:{annotRM[malte].context3D.clockWise();}
]{\includegraphics[height=1.44em]{boutonc}}
\hspace{1em}
\mediabutton[
jsaction=malte:{annotRM[malte].context3D.scaleSpeed(1/1.1);}
]{\includegraphics[height=1.44em]{boutond}}
\mediabutton[
jsaction=malte:{annotRM[malte].context3D.origSpeed();}
]{\includegraphics[height=1.44em]{boutone}}
\mediabutton[
jsaction=malte:{annotRM[malte].context3D.scaleSpeed(1.1);}
]{\includegraphics[height=1.44em]{boutonf}}
35
7.2 3D quick-start guide
1. Insert the 3D object with default camera settings and with extended
context menu enabled (option 3Dmenu):
\includemedia[
width=0.5\linewidth,height=0.5\linewidth,
activate=pageopen,
3Dmenu
]{}{myfile.u3d}
36
g) Attach the views file with option 3Dviews:
\includemedia[
width=0.5\linewidth,height=0.5\linewidth,
activate=pageopen,
3Dviews=myviews.vws,
3Dmenu
]{}{myfile.u3d}
If you are satisfied with the predefined views in the views file, the
default view first specified through the options of \includemedia can
be deleted. The first view in the views file becomes the default view
then.
7. Associate any number of 3D JavaScript files with the 3D object:
\includemedia[
width=0.5\linewidth,height=0.5\linewidth,
activate=pageopen,
add3Djscript=somescript.js,
add3Djscript=otherscript.js,
3Dviews=myviews.vws,
3Dmenu
]{}{myfile.u3d}
A few 3D JavaScript files ready to be used are already installed along with
media9.sty, see above.
8 Caveats
Large media files may cause TEX to interrupt with error
! TeX capacity exceeded, sorry [main memory size=3000000].
when using latex in dvips mode. While writing the DVI file, media files in the
current page that are about to be embedded are kept in TEXs memory until
shipping out of the readily typeset page. In the case of large or many files, this
may be more than TEX can cope with by default.
There are two options to handle such situations:
The first one is to increase TEXs main memory. You may follow the steps in
the Bugs section of the animate package documentation. In TEXLive-2012, the
maximum value that can be set is main_memory = 12435455.
If increasing TEXs main memory does not help, use the package option bigfiles
with media9. It defers file embedding from the DVI producing to the PS producing
step.
37
9 Acknowledgements
This package was written using the new LATEX3 syntax which was a lot of fun.
Many thanks to the LATEX3 team!
References
[1] Adobe Systems Inc.: Strobe Media Playback, 2010, available at http://osmf.
org/strobe_mediaplayback.html
[2] Adobe Systems Inc.: Adobe Supplement to ISO 32000, BaseVersion 1.7,
ExtensionLevel 3, 2008, available at http://wwwimages.adobe.com/www.
adobe.com/content/dam/Adobe/en/devnet/pdf/pdfs/adobe_supplement_
iso32000.pdf
[4] Adobe Systems Inc.: JavaScript for Acrobat API Reference, available at
http://livedocs.adobe.com/acrobat_sdk/10/Acrobat10_HTMLHelp/JS_
API_AcroJSPreface.87.1.html
[5] The Apache Software Foundation: Apache Flex SDK, available at http:
//flex.apache.org
38