-----ABOUT SignStream® is a software tool designed to facilitate the linguistic annotation of video language data. Copyright © 2017-2020 Trustees of Boston University; distributed by the American Sign Language Linguistic Research Project (ASLLRP). SignStream® is licensed under the MIT license. See LICENSE.txt in this directory. SignStream® users must be aware that all external files distributed by the American Sign Language Linguistic Project (ASLLRP) (including Collection, video, and Sign Bank files) may have their own distinct end-user license agreements, which may put additional restrictions on SignStream's usage. External Libraries Used: --- Xuggler - Arthur Clarke http://www.xuggle.com/ --- Swingx - Sun Microsystems https://mvnrepository.com/artifact/org.swinglabs/swingx --- Logback - Ceki Gulcu https://logback.qos.ch/ --- SLF4J - Ceki Gulcu https://www.slf4j.org/ --- Commons CLI - Apache Software Foundation http://commons.apache.org/proper/commons-cli/ --- For more details, see LICENSES-3RD-PARTY, NOTICES and dep/ -----REQUIREMENTS SignStream® will only work on Mac OS X computers. It is known to work on OS X 10.8 (Mountain Lion) and above. -----DEPENDENCIES In order to use SignStream®, you must have Java 1.6 or later installed. If you do not have Java installed, you can find the latest version of Java at the following URL: https://www.java.com/en/download/ -----INSTALL/USAGE Before launching the SignStream application from the SignStream folder: 1) You will need to allow the launch of the SignStream® 3 application, despite the fact that it is not provided by Apple or certified developers (to get around security features that have been implemented in Mac Operating Systems since OS 8). 2) You will also be offered the opportunity to download the latest Sign Bank, which consists of a repertoire of signs, with gloss labels and annotations of other properties, as well as images and video illustration of those signs, to assist in the process of annotating new video files. This Global Sign Bank is not required for use of SignStream®. If you download the Sign Bank, you are agreeing to the terms of use below (which will also be downloaded to your SignStream folder). Open a Finder window, and double-click on the SignStream folder (the folder you downloaded, which includes the application and related files). Do the following, in the order listed: 1) [Required] You will see a file called “DisableQuarantine.command”. Double-click on that. You may get a message asking if you want to open the file even though it is from an unidentified developer. If so, say YES. If you get a message that the file cannot be opened because it is from an unidentified developer: a. Go into System Preferences > Security & Privacy > General b. Under the section "Allow apps downloaded from" click "Open Anyway" for this file. This will open in the Terminal application and run immediately, then close itself when finished. 2) [Optional] If you wish to download the ASLLRP Global Sign Bank, double-click on "GetSignBank.command". You will be asked whether you wish to download the Sign Bank and agree to abide by the terms of use. If you click ‘yes’, the download of the ASLLRP Sign Bank materials (and of the Sign Bank terms of use) will commence. Close the Terminal window. You will then be ready to launch SignStream® by double-clicking on the application. Do not move the SignStream application out of its enclosing folder. -----UPGRADING Upgrading the ASLLRP Global Sign Bank file: When a new version of the Sign Bank becomes available, the next time you open up SignStream it will automatically begin the file update process for you. Be sure to follow the instructions and questions given. This will download the latest version of the Global Sign Bank (once you have reaffirmed that you agree to abide by the terms of use) and put it in the proper location within the folder from which the command had been launched. signbank/globalSignBank.xml Aside from these updates, please do not modify any of the files and folders that come with SignStream®. -----FILES/SUBDIRECTORIES The following folders are included with SignStream®. Please do not manipulate these folders or their contents as they will prevent SignStream® from running correctly. images/ This directory stores images of the various hand shapes and body parts used to identify signs and location data in SignStream®. icons/ This directory contains several icons used by SignStream®. newXMLfiles/ This directory stores data about participants, annotators, as well as important information about the structure of utterances, glosses, and non manual entries. signbank/ This directory stores the sign banks that contain a large number of different words used in American Sign Language. SignStreamDatabases/ This directory is where collections created by the user are saved to by default. As SignStream® is a OS X Application, it can be opened like a directory through the terminal or by right-clicking on it and clicking "Show Package Contents". Again, we highly recommend against manipulating the contents of these files and directories as it will prevent SignStream® from running correctly. -----VIDEO CODECS Video codecs that work with the application; if your video is in a different format, you should first convert it to one of these: * MPEG-4 (.mp4) * AVC1 (.mp4) * MPEG-4 (.mov) * H.264 (.mov) -----KNOWN ISSUES 1) Advancing video frames (using the right arrow key) at the end of the video causes frame cycles or frame skipping. 2) Color selection of nonmanual fields may not work as expected. 3) When creating a new nonmanual field, many of the options to edit field parameters do not work. 4) Search window - a) Clicking on the listing of sentences in the search results does not always open the correct sentence. - b) “Return to Original State” in the Search window does not work properly. - c) Warning to users: Closing the window displaying an utterance from the search results will quit the program, with no option to open a new search result. 5) Closing the main SignStream window at any point will also quit the program. 6) Minor issues with utterance playback: The "play utterance" command starts slightly before the first frame of the utterance; and the "go to end of utterance" button may not include that final frame in the visible field (in which case the user can scroll manually to that frame). 7) Problems have occurred in creating new utterances for files that have multiple participant and segment tiers. If this problem occurs, please contact carol@bu.edu. 8) Problems have occurred in attempts to reset the start and end points of utterances in the database view once annotations of the utterance have been carried out. -----FEATURES TO BE IMPLEMENTED 1) Ability to create and have more than one Macro Unit per Collection. 2) Functionality for Display Time Period in the Database View Window. 3) Functionalities for editing field types and properties in the Field Specifications Editor. 4) Ability to save searches. 5) Warning about existence of unsaved data when quitting the application. -----RELEASE NOTES FOR VERSION 3.3.6 * Video player has been changed (under the hood) from xuggler to gstreamer * https://github.com/DCS-LCSR/SignStream3/issues/378 * Fixed the field and event colors being wrong introduced in prior release 3.3.5 * https://github.com/DCS-LCSR/SignStream3/issues/392#issuecomment-766252538 * Fixed bug where gloss from a previous utterance would appear in new empty utterance * https://github.com/DCS-LCSR/SignStream3/issues/392#issuecomment-766170905 * Fixed bug with linked tiers not respecting the start/end constraints * https://github.com/DCS-LCSR/SignStream3/issues/404 * Fixed bugs with sign type