Choose an option to open and play video files. See Video Formats for a list of supported formats:

  • Select Display > Full Motion Video from the menu bar. Then click the File button in the Full Motion Video dialog, and select a video file.
  • Select File > Open from the ENVI menu bar, and select a video file.
  • Drag-and-drop a video file into the ENVI display.

Playback Options

Click the Pause button to stop the video at any point while it is playing.

Click the Step backward and Step forward buttons to move backward or forward in increments of 1/100 of the total length of the video.

Click and drag the blue time slider to a different frame, or click anywhere inside the timeline to move in larger increments.

Click the Go to the beginning and Go to the end buttons to go to the beginning or end of the video.

To automatically repeat the video each time it finishes, click the Repeat button .

As you move the cursor around the video frame, the current pixel (x,y) location and the current time of the video update in the bottom of the video player.

Click the Add Bookmark button to mark a point of interest in the video. You can save all bookmarks to a file by clicking the Bookmarks drop-down button and selecting Save Bookmarks. Click the same drop-down button and select Restore Bookmarks to restore a set of bookmarks associated with a video.

Toolbar Options

Click the Full Resolution button to view the video at full resolution.

Adjust the Brightness slider as needed; click the Reset button to return to the original brightness.

Click the Negative Image button to view a version of the video whose color planes are reversed.

Adjust the Frame rate slider to increase or decrease the rate at which the video plays. Click the Reset button to return to the original frame rate.

Other buttons in the toolbar are only available for videos with MISB metadata.

Export Options

To export a specific frame to a new view in the ENVI display, click the Export Frame to ENVI button . The frame is assigned a temporary filename in the Layer Manager. You can treat the frame as any other image layer, using ENVI's display tools as needed to explore the frame in more detail.

Each time you export a frame to the ENVI display, it goes to the currently selected view. To view frames in different views, select the desired number of views from the Views menu in the ENVI interface. Then click and drag frames from the Layer Manager to different views. See Multiple Views for more information.

When you export a frame when multiple views are available, the frame goes to the active view (whichever is selected and shows a cyan-colored border). You can select a view by clicking on it, then clicking the Export Frame to ENVI button .

You can also export the entire video to a raster series by clicking the Export Video to ENVI button . In the Video to Raster Series dialog, specify the range of frames that you want to export. If you do not specify any options, all frames will be exported.

Videos with MISB Metadata

Videos that contain metadata in Motion Imagery Standards Board (MISB) format will display the metadata in the left side of the Full Motion Video dialog. See the MISB Standards web page for more information on the metadata fields. The Full Motion Video player has some additional functionality when playing videos with MISB metadata:

  • On Windows systems, click the Reference button to display an ArcGIS Map window with a base map of the geographic area covered by the video.
  • The geographic extent of the video is displayed within the base map, along with a marker that shows the geographic location of the center of the video.
  • As you move the cursor around the video frame, the geographic coordinates update in the bottom of the video player as long as the metadata contains the coordinates of the four corners of the video.

    • Note: ENVI uses the PROJECTIVE_MAPPING_MATRIX routine for this functionality, courtesy of Rochester Institute of Technology, http://www.cis.rit.edu/~cnspci/software.php.

  • Click the View Metadata button to show or hide the metadata.
  • Click the North Up button to rotate the video frames so that North is always up.
  • Right-click in the video player and select Copy Lat/Lon to Clipboard to copy the center coordinates of the video player to the Clipboard.
  • Windows systems only: While the video is paused, pressing Ctrl+click anywhere in the video player will move the center marker in the base map to that location.
  • If you click the Export Frame to ENVI button , then press Shift+click inside the video player on a feature of interest, crosshairs will appear in the ENVI display over the corresponding pixel location. The Cursor Value dialog appears, with the geographic coordinates of that pixel location. You can also press Shift+Ctrl+click while the video is paused to move the center marker in the base map to the location where you clicked and to display the crosshairs and report the coordinates for that pixel.
  • Click the Plot Metadata drop-down button and select an option:
    • Plot Variable(s) Over Time: In the Plot Metadata dialog that appears, select one or more variables to plot. Click OK. A new plot window appears with the variable plotted against time. A vertical grey bar in the plot window represents the current time as the video plays. You can click and drag this line to a point of interest in the plot to see the the corresponding video frame.
    • Plot Variable versus Variable: In the Plot Metadata dialog that appears, choose variables to plot in the x- and y-axis. Click OK. A new plot windows appear with the two variables plotted with each other.
    • Export Frame to Google Earth: Select an export option. The generated KML files are saved to the directory specified by the ENVI Temporary Directory preference.
      • Sensor Flight Path: Shows the path of the sensor during the video.
      • Frame Center Path: A line that connects the latitude/longitude coordinates of the center of each frame.
      • Full Snail Trail: A polygon that shows the full area covered by the sensor during the video.

See Also

Spatiotemporal Analysis, Image Window Views