Using stopwatches

Dartfish allows you to use multiple stopwatches

to estimate the duration of a performance,

to measure time in different sections of a performance/race,

to estimate/compare different time/speeds.

The stopwatch displays the time in minutes:seconds.frames (mm:ss.fff). Its precision is function of the number of fields/sec, i.e 2'' of a second for PAL video (50 fields/sec) or 1.66'' of a second for NTSC (60 frames/sec).


To add a stopwatch

1.	Select the Time tool

2.	Click anywhere in the image to insert a stopwatch. Use the drawings properties (see Drawings properties) to modify the color and font.

The stopwatch displays the current position of the playhead at the moment it is inserted in the image.


To reset a stopwatch

1.	Right-click on a stopwatch

2.	Select Set timecode to 00:00 in the context menu

To start/stop counting

You can start and stop counting in a section of a performance/race. For example, you may want to compute the time from gate 1 to gate 7 in a giant slalom to compare performances in this particular section. To do this:

1.	Position the playhead at the position you want to start counting

2.	Set timecode to 00:00 (optional)

3.	Right-click on a stopwatch and select Start counting

4.	Position the playhead to the end of the section

5.	Right-click on the stopwatch and select Stop counting

You can change the start and stop position by setting them to a new position. To disable this feature, simply uncheck the Start and Stop counting from the drawing context menu.