General Concepts

• One Web application to serve all Image Library topics.

  • Ingesting

  • Editing (images + metadata)

  • Importing (from external sources)

  • Searching

  • Administrative tasks

• Image states: Images can have multiple states depending on the current progress in processing.

  • Image is stored on Graphic Hub Image Library storage, meaning only available for Image Library clients.

  • Image is processing, meaning it is currently converted to the native Viz Engine image format and imported to a destination directory.

  • Image is available, meaning Viz Engine can load the native format from Graphic Hub.

• Metadata:

  • The metadata structure is represented as a model based on the Vizrt JSON Data Format (VDF-JSON).

    • This is fixed in the initial version and not user editable.

  • The metadata content is represented as a payload which is validated against the model.

    • This can be edited by the user and assigned to images.

• Reactive:

  • When tasks are executed in the background or by other clients the views are instantly updated.

    • Uploading an image with another client, makes the image immediately available in the main view, if image status changes, those changes are automatically reflected in the UI.

• Snackbars:

  • Snackbars display updates from the back-end regarding current tasks or errors.

  • They are visible until the user closes them or until a timeout is reached.

  • To view the message history, go to the Status page.

    • Snackbar messages are purged after every page reload!

• Tasks:

  • Tasks are asynchronously running background operations.

  • There are several tasks:

    • Importing of images from an Oracle Database

    • Analyzation of an Oracle Database

    • Importing of Metadata from an Oracle Database

    • Deletion of multiple images

    • Synchronization / comparison of Metadata between two servers

    • Finding / Fixing search index differences

    • Deletion of the whole database

  • These tasks can't run simultaneously.

  • If a task is active, a progress bar is shown in the Image Library UI.

  • Information for the last running task can be seen in the Status Page.

View: How to Browse Images and View Metadata

Viewing current Image Library content in the main view where all other views are visible. Most of the necessary tasks should be done here.

• All available files are displayed in the main view.

• You can execute all actions (searching, ingesting, editing).

• Able to filter and order files on certain properties.

  • Refine your filters and ordering when browsing or serching

  • The filters are grouped and can be combined

  • Selected filters, ordering and active search are indicated with blue buttons

• Has pagination and displays the total number of files and currently viewed page.

• Amount of displayed files is defined by the screen space, and therefore dynamic.

• Images can be selected, and have an overlay to display their status.

• Images details can viewed by clicking on them:

  • Display the metadata.

  • Display the image properties

  • Display the image with an higher resolution.

Ingest: How to Add Images

Ingesting is the process in which a user uploads one or more an images to the Graphic Hub Image Library and assigns metadata.
This can be done by using the Upload/Import button on the main menu.

• At the Ingest page the user can upload one or multiple images by dragging and dropping an image onto the upload pane.

  • Alternatively, click on Select Files to open a dialog to browse for images.

• The ingest automatically attempts to fill metadata by the file name.

• Required metadata fields must be filled by the user, this can be done by clicking on the specific image.

• Confirm the upload of all selected image by pressing Import.

• The image is uploaded to Graphic Hub and is immediately available for usage in the Image Library and Asset search in Pilot Edge.

• Graphic Hub ImEx Agent automatically schedules an import and conversion to the Viz Engine native image format through Graphic Hub REST. This is indicated with the processing state.

• When the image is converted and ready for playout by Viz Engine it is in the available state.

Editing: How to Edit Metadata

Editing metadata can be done in the main and search view by selecting an image.

Deleting: How to Delete an Image

This can be done in the main and search view by selecting one or multiple images and then clicking Delete.

Searching: How to Search for Images

The search bar is used to search for images.

• Simple search based on all required metadata fields

  • Title

  • Description

  • Person:

    • TV Name

    • First Name

    • Last Name

  • Tags

• The search is case insensitive and narrows by combining words. i.e.: "Lionel Messi" finds only images with the searchable fields "Lionel" and "Messi"

• Total found results are displayed under the page view

• You can also order and Filter the search result

• It is also possible to use quotes in your search in order to find a literal string (for example, "Lionel Messi" only shows images containing Lionel Messi but not Messi Lionel).

• To refine searches, wildcards can also be used:
  

  • ?: A?ple returns results containing both Apple and Ample.

  • *: Matches one or more characters at the current position: A*le returns Aple, Apple and Appple.

Searching: How to Filter by Upload / Last Changed Date

To filter by the upload / last changed date, click the gear icon next to the search bar. There you can select a start and end date.

Searching: How to Search for Images with Pilot Edge

The open search endpoint needs to be added as search provider in the Pilot Data Server configuration. Please consult the Pilot Manual for instructions.

Importing: How to Import an Existing Viz Object Store Database

Importing is a one stop process which allows to connect to an Viz Object Store Oracle database and import existing images (from the network share) and metadata once.

• It requires the Oracle access settings (hostname, username, password, database) and access to the network share used.

• Steps:

  1. Provide configuration and credentials for:

     • Hostname: Host where Oracle is running.

     • Username and Password: Oracle username and password.

       Note: Use the user that owns the Viz Pilot schema. Typically this is pilot, and not a system user like system or sys.

     • Database service: The Oracle DB service instance (typically pilot or vizrtdb).

     • Server port: The Oracle service port (typically 1521).

  2. Click Check connection. It should show Database Connection Successful

  3. Edit the analyze options:

     • Edit Image Shares: Shows all image locations (network shares) found in the Oracle database.

       • From these paths the images are read and imported.

       • You are able to edit every individual path by editing the "Replace path with" part

       • You can replace all paths by adding applying a part of the path and its replacement in the first fields

• 1. • Full search: use all database entries, even if the image is not available on the network share

       • By default this setting is disabled, meaning only content is analyzed where an image is available.

       • Enabling this only analyzes and display the image entries, they are ignored during the import because no image is available.

  2. Click Analyze Database: Starts to analyze the database content and the available images.

     • This can be done several times when the configuration is changed (for example, when editing the Image Shares mapping).

     • The Oracle database content and available images are analyzed, which can take some time.

     • If there are no results:

       • Please check that the network share is accessible for a service (Map it correctly)!

       • Refine your Image Share mapping by editing the image shares

  3. Select a subset or all images to import by clicking Select (top left) > Select All.

  4. Start the import by clicking Action (top left) > Import.

  5. The import process starts and runs asynchronously on the Graphic Hub ImEx Agent.

  6. The import process might take some time and the UI is locked and allows to view the progress and cancel the import.

     • Note that staging into the processing of the Viz Engine native format is done asynchronously and may lag behind.

     • It is recommended to have only one client active to avoid constant reloading of clients due to the massive amount of updates sent during the import.

A Yellow Icon is Displayed on the Top Right of the Page

A yellow icon indicates an abnormal state of the Image Library. Click on the icon to get more information about the warning / error.

Image Library Page Has Connection Errors / Fresh Installation / Graphic Hub ImEx is not Responding

Image Library might not have been configured properly. Mostly those errors are because:

• Missing / Misconfigured License: Make sure the Image Library Extension is explicitly enabled in the Graphic Hub Terminal.

• ImEx Image Library is not configured to a destination directory.

• ImEx destintion directory is not properly configured.

• Graphic Hub REST is not properly configured or stopped.

Image Library Cannot Import / Ingest Images

• Check if you have the license properly configured . The Icon should not be yellow (this is only visible if a problem has been detected, in a non-administrative mode).

  • Main and Replication need a license, please check both servers.

  • Validate that the license was properly allocated by the Graphic Hub (see in the log) and that the license has a proper maintenance period.

• Check if there is enough disk space available on Graphic Hub.

• Ingesting does not allow all file types with every format. Make sure you are importing a common file type.

• Make sure the Image library is not in "Locked" mode . The Lock should not be yellow (this is only visible if a problem has been detected, in a non-administrative mode).

Search Results / Filters are Incomplete and Missing / Showing Wrong Images

Before re-indexing, make sure that there is no background processing being done on the Graphic Hub:

1. Go to the Image Library Administrative UI > Server Page > Database Indices Tab

2. Take note of the Image Index / Search Index Working values:

   1. These values represent the amount of background Image Library tasks queued on the Graphic Hub

   2. Searching and Filtering may return outdated results until all tasks are processed in the background.

   3. These queues may grow and are processed in the background. This is nothing to worry about and expected when ingesting or editing a large amount of images.

The search index on the Graphic Hub(s) may have run out of sync. You can manually trigger re-indexing of all metadata:

1. Go to the Image Library Administrative UI > Server Page

2. Lock the server in the Database Lock State Tab. Locking the database blocks any write-access to the Image Library database.

3. Go to the Database Indices Tab.

4. Click on Fix Indices:

   1. This operation re-indexes every image and metadata item.

   2. Re-indexing of a database with 500,000 images takes about 3 minutes, but can take longer depending on load and hardware configuration.

   3. The current stage and progress are logged in the Graphic Hub Log.

Some filters don't work, Sorting by ascending and descending and filtering by date has no effect.

This is not an error, but expected due to an outdated version of Graphic Hub. The ImEx Agent still works properly, but these new features are not usable. An outdated Graphic Hub with a newer ImEx Agent version is indicated by the Download Icon on the top right in Administrative mode.

There Are Missing Images In My Cluster or some Metadata Is Incomplete

• Main and Replication might have differences due to network issues.

• Main and Replication might have differences due due to the downtime of one server.

Use built in tools to solve the differences:

1. Make Sure both servers are running and are in their native mode, with no open transactions.

2. Use the Image Library Administrative UI > Server page > Database Sync tab.

3. Select your replication server on the top right of the page. It is also possible to view and fix differences between Graphic Hubs which are not in a Cluster.

4. Show Differences: Runs a task in the background which shows all the differences between.

   1. After the task is done, a list of differences between both servers appears.

5. Hit Sync Servers to synchronize both servers again. The database needs to be locked beforehand.

6. Don't forget to unlock the servers again.

Image Library Is not Deployed via Deploy Agent, I Need a backup Solution!

There are multiple ways of making a backup:

1. Shutdown:

   1. Shutdown you Servers properly at a service interval and let Graphic Hub Terminal handle the backup.

   2. Shutdown your Servers properly and backup the data directory.

2. Manual Server Synchronization

   1. You can synchronize your servers manually to a Multiuser server with a valid Image Library License.

   2. Go to the Image Library Administrative UI > Server page. Enter your destination server instead of choosing one: VizDbServer@Hostname:19396.

   3. Show Differences: Runs a task in the background and show all the differences between both servers.

      1. After the task is done a list of differences between both servers appears.

   4. Hit Sync Servers to synchronize both servers again. The database needs to be locked for this procedure.

   5. Don't forget to unlock the servers again.

Images Are not Available for Playout / Cannot Find Images in Graphic Hub

The images are only available in the Graphic Hub when they have been converted to the native Viz Engine format. They do not contain any "usable" name, because they are only intended for automated playout.

You should not be using those images for Designing Scenes, etc...

If your playout cannot load these images make sure to have a look in the Availability page:

• You can view the distribution plan for the Image library in the ImEx configure web interface.

• You can view the distribution plan for the Image library in the Image Library Administrative view:

  • If there are Pending imports, you need to either wait for the ImEx to import the images.

  • Check the errors by going into the status tab (Administrative mode only).

  • Check your Graphic Hub for corrupted files.

  • If the Import does not continue, Restarting Graphic Hub ImEx Agent & Graphic Hub REST should trigger a new import of all the missing files.

Availability / Distribution Plan Does not Continue Upload / Shows Errors

The distribution plan is not continuing and stops without recovery might happen for various reasons:

• Check your Graphic Hub for corrupted files.

• Restart Graphic Hub REST Service.

• Restart Graphic Hub ImEx Agent Service.

Import Reports Error ORA-00942 Table or View Does not Exist

This error may occur when a user is used for the import that is not the owner of the Viz Pilot schema (for example, system or sys).

• Please use the user that owns the Pilot schema, typically this is pilot.