AEditor - the AIBO Performance Editor (for the ERS-11x)

Overview

The AIBO Performance editor (AEditor.EXE) is a tool for creating and editing AIBO performances. AEditor will edit body motions (in .MTN files) and eye flashing (in .LED files). You can load in audio files (.WAV or .MID files) and the editor will let you view and play them (WAV only). AEditor does not edit audio files. Please prepare your audio in other tools before using the AIBO editor.
AEditor is a multi-track editor that edits the audio, eye flashing and body motions all in a time synchronized format. You can click on the different tracks to edit the values.

NOTE: Screen shots and command documentation is a little out of date.

Platforms

AEditor is a Win32 program. It should work on Windows 95 and above. It requires DirectX for the 3D Virtual AIBO.
The file VIRTAIBO.DLL must be in the same directory as the main program.

Virtual AIBO

The main tool for viewing and editing AIBO performances is Virtual Aibo. Virtual AIBO is a 3D model of the AIBO that is used for playback and editing of motions.

Click here for more information on Virtual AIBO.

Basic Concepts

With the editor you are editing one, two or three files at once. The root file name must be the same and the files must be in the same directory. For example you can be editing the "SKIT1" performance, with the audio in SKIT1.WAV, the motion in SKIT1.MTN and the eye flashing in SKIT1.LED.
You can examine built-in Action (File / Open Action) but you can not change them. You can preview them and possibly copy motion tracks from them. The built-in actions are currently limited to ERS-111 performances only.
Virtual AIBO can be used to playback performances, and to edit joint values.
The "Generate Mouth" and "Generate Eyes" commands work with a WAVE file audio, generating mouth motion or eye flashing based on the sound in the sound file. You can adjust the thresholds used for the generation algorithm. You can also tweek the final results.

Selection

There are three kinds of selection using the mouse.
If you use the left button of the mouse and select a region, all motion tracks will be selected. This allows you to specify a time range. The audio track is hilited, even though you can't change the audio data.
If you hold down the SHIFT key when you select a range with the left mouse button, you will get a "2 Dimensional" selection. This will select both the time range and those tracks you want to change. This is primarily used to select specific tracks to smooth or perform other operations on.
Finally, the RIGHT mouse button is used to directly edit values. This works for motion tracks and LED tracks.

File Menu

    Open - Open a file (will load all files used by that performance)
    Open Action - Open a built-in AIBO action (read-only)
    Close - Close current performance
    Save - Save current performance
    Print options
        Print and Print Preview.
        This does a raw print of the track data -- not too useful.
    Exit

Edit Menu

    Copy - copy the currently selected motion tracks to the clipboard
            [select a time range]
    Paste Special - paste over motion tracks
            [select start of where data is to be merged]
    Select All - select all tracks and entire time range

    Generate Eyes - generate flashing eyes based on audio track
            [selection ignored]
    Generate Mouth - generate mouth movement based on audio track
            [selection ignored]
    Generate Tail - not implemented (if you have ideas, email me)

    Smooth Motion - smooth motion between endpoints
            [select time range and rows - see 2D Selection]
    Apply Macro - apply a macro
            [select a time range]

View Menu

    Toolbar - toggle the main toolbar on/off
    Status Bar - toggle the status bar on/off
    Zoom Features
        Zoom In, Zoom Out, Set Zoom
    Play - play WAVE file
            [select a time range]

Tools Menu

    Replace Audio - replace audio track with a WAVE, reinit motion tracks
    Change Start and End - not yet implemented

Window Menu

    Close All
    Cascase
    Tile

    Show Player - show Virtual AIBO

Keyboard Commands

Most keyboard commands act on the current selection.

    Left Arrow
        Move selection forward one time slot (80 milliseconds)
        Useful for playing back motion
    Right Arrow
        Move selection backwards one time slot (80 milliseconds)

    '1', '2', '3', '4', '5', '6', '7', '8', '9',
        Set the currently selected motion to specific value.
        '1' = lowest, '5' = middle, '9' = highest

    Up Arrow
        Move selection forward one keyframe
    Down Arrow
        Move selection backward one keyframe
    'R' or 'S'
        Smooth motion