Challenge
Until now, video has only been playable on resource-constrained devices through dedicated hardware built on the device platform. Platform APIs have limited developers to a simple user experience wherein the video takes over the entire screen. No video manipulation was possible.
As technology becomes increasingly mobile, users want to interact with video in sophisticated ways, from wherever they are. This requires the ability to blend and morph multiple data streams. This must be done in real time, from local or remote sources, on any platform, and rendered on any surface―all without draining the device’s battery, hogging bandwidth, or otherwise depleting the device’s limited resources.
Solution
To address the need to manipulate video and other data streams simultaneously on resource-constrained devices, Beechwoods Software created the FX Engine, a full-featured suite of APIs for media application development. The FX Engine is OS-agnostic.
The engine allows for the creation and manipulation of media files, including photos, video, audio, text, and meta-data. Input content can reside locally, so as to not deplete bandwidth allowances, or streamed from remote sources. Multiple, disparate sources can be blended, synchronized, and rendered onto any surface. Output can be shared or stored locally.
The FX engine is a generalized solution that provides a framework for developing media applications on a wide range of mobile and resource-limited devices. It is currently available from the Android Market.
Applications
Possible uses for the FX Engine are endless:
- Doctors can non-destructively mark up patient X-rays with their annotations.
- Resorts and real estate agents can create virtual tours with multiple videos, audio tracks, photos, captions, and highlights rendered concurrently on handheld devices.
- Museums can create interactive guided tours that, rather than providing only an audio description, bring the art to life by allowing visitors to interact with exhibits in new ways.
- Applications can provide destination information that combines live camera streams with augmented reality overlays.
With the FX engine, the native capabilities of mobile and resource-constrained device platforms have been dramatically expanded, limited only by the developer’s imagination.
