JeffJr

JeffJr is a general purpose multimedia queueing tool that allows real-time triggering and mixing of multiple audio and video clips. It is aimed at presentations and live stage shows that involve complex multimedia manipulation: starting/stopping audio/video clips at specific points in the script, etc.

Screenshot

Instead of having a separate DVD player, a CD player and a paper cuesheet listing that requires a backstage technician to seek-start-stop the tracks (in addition to normal stage work such as controlling lighting and adjusting the sound at the mixing desk), JeffJr concentrates all these functions into a single program running from a computer.

Basic features

With JeffJr, you can:

On any computer with dual-screen capability, the control windows can be shown separately from the video display, thus allowing you complete control over multimedia playback without being restricted to mouse pointers or buttons appearing on the projection screen.

JeffJr and other tools

JeffJr is not PowerPoint, does not aim to be like PowerPoint, and does not serve the same purpose as PowerPoint. PowerPoint and friends provide drawing and writing tools to create your own slides and combine them into presentations. Accessorily, some *basic* functions are provided to animate graphic elements and embed audio and video clips into slides, but they are very limited. On the other hand, JeffJr does not provide any content creation functionalities: you cannot make slides or clips inside the software. However, JeffJr provides powerful multimedia manipulation functions that allow you to play, cue, fade, pan, mix in real-time and organize a large number of audio and video clips in complex ways.

JeffJr is the result of many years of experience and research by a group of stage performers frustrated by the technical limitations and burden of existing multimedia solutions for touring shows. The project started as a small Winamp3 plug-in back in 2002 (never released to the public); an earlier version of JeffJr has been used for two years by the "Sciences et mathématiques en action" (SMAC) group in Canada as the technical core for a series of shows across the country.

In the near future, it is planned that JeffJr be added with USB and/or parallel or serial port communication capabilities (developer wanted!). This would enable communication and control of external devices from JeffJr, such as lighting, smoke and other stage equipment from the same interface as the multimedia clips.

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