Jeremy Den Hartog
I have been messing around with voice controls for GRLevel3 and have found that things actually work really well. This could be useful for those chasers who chase solo as its one less thing you have to mess with while driving (though I still wouldn't recommend using some of these commands while driving - no sense in getting into an accident because your not paying attention). Anyhow, I decided to write a tutorial to help others use voice commands to control GRLevel3 (and actually it should work with all Gibson Ridge products).
What you need:
- laptop/windows tablet
- GRLevel3 (or like I said probably any of them)
- Microphone/headset (my computer has a mic built in - a headset would be best though as sometimes the computer can't understand me due to the fact I'm not using one)
- Windows 7 or 8 (though voice control may be built into other versions also...but may be different, not sure)
Step 1:
First you need to 'enable' voice control. You can do this in the control panel on your computer (I'm assuming you know where that is). For me (Windows 8) you can do this by going to 'hardware/sound' and then 'ease of access' (Windows 7 may or may not be the same).
Step 2:
Once enabled, I highly recommend you take the tutorial on how to use voice controls. If it doesn't launch the tutorial automatically (I don't remember now if it did or not) you can get to the tutorial by right clicking on the 'speech recognition' icon in your task bar and choose 'start tutorial' (or something similar). Again, the tutorial is highly recommended. It will not only teach you how to do things, it will also make the voice recognition software 'learn' how you speak. In other words this will work better the more you use it. Also, the stuff I include in this tutorial may or may not make much sense if you don't do the tutorial. It takes about 20-30 minutes if I remember right to complete the tutorial.
Step 3:
Once you have enabled and started voice control, you can launch GRLevel3 by simply saying 'start GRlevle3' (or your supposed to be able to anyhow). However, for me I have to say 2 separate commands and say 'start' which opens the start menu and then 'grlevel3' (your supposed to be able to do it in one single command, but it does not work for me 'yet' - maybe it will in the future - and its probably partly to due with me not using a headset or microphone of some kind). Anyhow, GRLevel3 should start and load just like it normally would. You might also have to say 'switch to GRLevel3' to make sure it is the program selected (it should be, but sometimes I have to do that).
Anyhow, here are the commands you can use/say to control GRLevel3 (not all inclusive - but you'll get the idea):
'start archiver' - will click on the start archiver button.
'play' - will start playing the radar animation.
'pause' - will pause the animation.
'next' - will move ahead one volume scan.
'latest' - will move to the most recent volume scan.
'previous' - will move back one volume scan.
'oldest' - will move to the oldest volume scan.
'zoom in' - will zoom in on things.
'zoom out' - will zoom out on things.
'no zoom' - will zoom out completely.
Alternatively, 'scroll up' will zoom in and 'scroll down' will zoom out.
Other commands/tips:
- You can navigate through the different product tabs you have loaded simply by saying them. In my case, I have echo tops and VIL chosen so I simply will say one of those and then say 'tab' to cycle through them (for me saying 'BR 0.5' for example does not work - again probably because the lack of a mic/headset).
-You can navigate through the tabs at the top of GRLevel3 simply by saying their respective name. For example, to change sites simply say 'site'. A pull down will open. You can choose one of your 'favorites' in the list simply by saying the first 4 letters (for example I have KFSD Sioux Falls, so I say 'KFSD' to chose that one). However, going to 'select' and scrolling through things that way does not work for me, only choosing sites in my favorites list works.
- You can say 'show numbers' to navigate through the different menus of GRLevel3 also (you should have learned about this in the tutorial).
- You can pan around in GRLevel3 simply by saying 'mouse grid' and then the number that corresponds to the area you want to pan to followed by saying 'mark' (a black cross hair should appear at this location). Then typically you want to center in on this item so to do this say '5' (since thats the number in the middle) followed by 'click'. This will take a little practice but really is much easier then it probably sounds. To better explain say the following command and see what happens. Say 'mouse grid'. Then say '9'. Then say 'mark'. Then say '5'. Then say 'click'. This should take what was shown in the number '9' mouse grid and move it/pan to the number 5 mouse grid location.
Anyhow, these are the basics. Feel free to ask any questions (or add things as I probably missed something)...
What you need:
- laptop/windows tablet
- GRLevel3 (or like I said probably any of them)
- Microphone/headset (my computer has a mic built in - a headset would be best though as sometimes the computer can't understand me due to the fact I'm not using one)
- Windows 7 or 8 (though voice control may be built into other versions also...but may be different, not sure)
Step 1:
First you need to 'enable' voice control. You can do this in the control panel on your computer (I'm assuming you know where that is). For me (Windows 8) you can do this by going to 'hardware/sound' and then 'ease of access' (Windows 7 may or may not be the same).
Step 2:
Once enabled, I highly recommend you take the tutorial on how to use voice controls. If it doesn't launch the tutorial automatically (I don't remember now if it did or not) you can get to the tutorial by right clicking on the 'speech recognition' icon in your task bar and choose 'start tutorial' (or something similar). Again, the tutorial is highly recommended. It will not only teach you how to do things, it will also make the voice recognition software 'learn' how you speak. In other words this will work better the more you use it. Also, the stuff I include in this tutorial may or may not make much sense if you don't do the tutorial. It takes about 20-30 minutes if I remember right to complete the tutorial.
Step 3:
Once you have enabled and started voice control, you can launch GRLevel3 by simply saying 'start GRlevle3' (or your supposed to be able to anyhow). However, for me I have to say 2 separate commands and say 'start' which opens the start menu and then 'grlevel3' (your supposed to be able to do it in one single command, but it does not work for me 'yet' - maybe it will in the future - and its probably partly to due with me not using a headset or microphone of some kind). Anyhow, GRLevel3 should start and load just like it normally would. You might also have to say 'switch to GRLevel3' to make sure it is the program selected (it should be, but sometimes I have to do that).
Anyhow, here are the commands you can use/say to control GRLevel3 (not all inclusive - but you'll get the idea):
'start archiver' - will click on the start archiver button.
'play' - will start playing the radar animation.
'pause' - will pause the animation.
'next' - will move ahead one volume scan.
'latest' - will move to the most recent volume scan.
'previous' - will move back one volume scan.
'oldest' - will move to the oldest volume scan.
'zoom in' - will zoom in on things.
'zoom out' - will zoom out on things.
'no zoom' - will zoom out completely.
Alternatively, 'scroll up' will zoom in and 'scroll down' will zoom out.
Other commands/tips:
- You can navigate through the different product tabs you have loaded simply by saying them. In my case, I have echo tops and VIL chosen so I simply will say one of those and then say 'tab' to cycle through them (for me saying 'BR 0.5' for example does not work - again probably because the lack of a mic/headset).
-You can navigate through the tabs at the top of GRLevel3 simply by saying their respective name. For example, to change sites simply say 'site'. A pull down will open. You can choose one of your 'favorites' in the list simply by saying the first 4 letters (for example I have KFSD Sioux Falls, so I say 'KFSD' to chose that one). However, going to 'select' and scrolling through things that way does not work for me, only choosing sites in my favorites list works.
- You can say 'show numbers' to navigate through the different menus of GRLevel3 also (you should have learned about this in the tutorial).
- You can pan around in GRLevel3 simply by saying 'mouse grid' and then the number that corresponds to the area you want to pan to followed by saying 'mark' (a black cross hair should appear at this location). Then typically you want to center in on this item so to do this say '5' (since thats the number in the middle) followed by 'click'. This will take a little practice but really is much easier then it probably sounds. To better explain say the following command and see what happens. Say 'mouse grid'. Then say '9'. Then say 'mark'. Then say '5'. Then say 'click'. This should take what was shown in the number '9' mouse grid and move it/pan to the number 5 mouse grid location.
Anyhow, these are the basics. Feel free to ask any questions (or add things as I probably missed something)...
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