Initial page - Submit a video

To submit a video the user can either provide its URL or upload a local copy of it from his/her device (please note that the maximum permitted file size and video duration are 400MB and 20 minutes, respectively). The supported on-line video sources include YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Vimeo, DailyMotion, LiveLeak and Dropbox (beware though that not all videos from these platforms are accessible to our service, due to platform-specific or user-defined restrictions about the use of each specific video; moreover, the provided URL should always point to a single video, rather than a playlist of videos). The service can handle videos in mp4, webm, mov, wmv, ogv, mkv, and avi format. The complete service runs at high speed (i.e., it is several times faster than real-time video processing, on a PC - though delays may be noticed if multiple video processing jobs are in the queue). Before submitting a video, the user can choose whether to use the tool with its default settings (summarization, then aspect ratio transformation), summarization, aspect ratio transformation, or first aspect ratio transformation and then summarization. After submitting a video, the user should keep the browser tab open to monitor the progress of summarization. When the automatic analysis is completed, the summary result is presented to the user through the user interface (the webpage refreshes automatically to show the result in each separate step).

Summarization results

Summarization Step enables the user to add/remove temporal segments to the auto-generated summary. It features a video player and two modes: video and summary. In video mode, the buttons below the video player navigate through the entire video, while in summary mode, they operate solely on the video parts selected for inclusion in the summary. A timeline axis, segmented in shots based on the algorithm’s output, facilitates easy navigation throughout the video by moving left-right the lower arrow of the integrated arrow pair. Initially, the parts selected by the algorithm to include in the final summary are displayed on this timeline. User can include/exclude the original audio of each fragment with simple click on the fragment, double-click on a fragment to remove it, or insert a new one by double-clicking the upper arrow in the first frame of the desired fragment and again in its last frame. Moreover, there is a secondary axis below the timeline axis that makes the latter zoom in by x10 on the selected tenth of the video’s timeline, by double-clicking on the corresponding tenth of the secondary axis. To return to the original (zoomed-out) timeline axis, just double-click again on the previously selected part of the secondary axis. Above the video player window: to the left, the current summary duration and the target summary duration, based on the initial choice made by the user, are displayed; to the right, the current timestamp of the video player and the original video’s duration are shown.

Workflow Options:

1. Default: Summarization, then Aspect Ratio Transformation

• Once the user finishes adding or removing temporal segments from the auto-generated summary (or skips this step if no edits are desired), they can proceed to the aspect ratio transformation step.

2. Summarization or Aspect Ratio Transformation, then Summarization

• Users can upload an audio file (MP3 or WAV format) for fragments where audio is excluded.
• They can also upload the original subtitles of the video (SRT or VTT format) to generate a summarized version.
• Once the user finishes adding or removing temporal segments from the auto-generated summary (or skips this step if no edits are desired), they can proceed to the final page.

Aspect Ratio Transformation results

In aspect ratio transformation step, the user has the opportunity to adjust the automatically-generated results of smart-cropping, i.e. to refine the final cropped area of the video frames that are included in the summary. This step features a video player with a bounding box displaying the algorithm-selected cropped area. Additionally, there is a timeline axis segmented into the selected parts from Step 2, which can be used for easy navigation. The user can adjust the algorithm's output by moving the bounding box. They can do this by positioning the bounding box in the first frame of the shot they want to modify and then again in a subsequent frame (in increments of 10 frames) or in the last frame. An automated interpolation adjusts accordingly the position of the bounding box in the frames in between between the first and last selected frames. There is a secondary axis below the timeline axis, where user can zoom in/out as described in the summarization step. Moreover, there is a preview cropped video button, where user can instantly view the current smart crop results.

Workflow Options:

1. Default: Summarization, then Aspect Ratio Transformation

• Users can upload an audio file (MP3 or WAV format) for fragments where audio is excluded.
• They can also upload the original subtitles of the video (SRT or VTT format) to generate a summarized version.
• Once the cropping area is adjusted (or left unchanged), users can proceed to the final page.

2. Aspect Ratio Transformation

• Users can upload an audio file for the entire video or retain the original audio.
• They can also upload the original subtitles of the video (SRT or VTT format) to generate a summarized version.
• Once the cropping area is adjusted (or left unchanged), users can proceed to the final page.

3. Aspect Ratio Transformation, then Summarization

• Once the cropping area is adjusted (or left unchanged), users proceed to the summarization step.

Final Results page

The user can view and download the final summary video, by using the button on the bottom of the webpage. Optionally, if the user provided an e-mail address before submitting the video for summarization, s/he may close the web application and be notified by e-mail when the summarization results are ready. This e-mail contains a unique link to the summarization results, directing them to Step 2, that is active only for 24 hours; after this time period, the link, the submitted video, the summarization results and the e-mail address (if provided) are automatically deleted from our server. All video rights remain with the uploader, who is assumed to have the right to submit the video to this service for summarization.