Cuemechanics Pool School

December 5^th, 2010.

Newly developed by Bob Jones, ‘StrokeAnalyzer’ software is an easy-to-use program for instructors and those players interested in self-help training opportunities.  Bob includes instructional advice for self-help users, while instructors will easily figure out how to apply the program's features and capabilities in their training sessions.

Video analysis of a player’s pre-shot routines and stroke delivery are very useful in identifying problems that may be the cause of missed shots and poor position play.  ‘StrokeAnalyzer’ brings all the necessary drawing and computer video manipulation tools together, enabling instructors – and anyone else with the knowledge of what is required for a good pool stroke – to pinpoint areas in stroke setup and delivery that are good and those that need improvement.

Using a USB-connected camera, ‘StrokeAnalyzer’ will record and save video and let you replay, using easy forward/reverse search and freeze-frame controls, and then you can draw right on top of the images.  It even has an automatically calculating angle drawing tool, to show whether you have proper geometry incorporated between your grip arm and cue in each shot.

Consistency is key, not only in your pool game but also in use of Bob’s program.  Instructors doing video analysis already know about marking cue and object ball positions on the table, so that repeated shots always have the balls and camera in the exact same position.  You can’t do any shot-to-shot comparison, or ferret out problems such as those arising from differences in stroke speed, without this setup detail.

For analysis of several consecutive shots, the first one may be used and easily marked up as shown above.  Since the camera and the cue ball position do not move on subsequent shots, the player’s consistency – or lack thereof - in setup and delivery are easily shown.

Shots requiring a high speed stroke will often bring out the worst in a player’s setup and execution, including such problems as an unnecessary change in bridge length, improper grip location, elbow drop, overly tight grip hand, unwanted body movements, etc.

The ‘StrokeAnalyzer’ website has plenty of examples of how to use the program and its features, so please do check it out, since the three images above show just a few things you can do.  We used one of the better Logitech web cams for these examples and we still had to make several adjustments for lighting, and compensation for the window in the background (even though the blind was closed).  The better your camera, its lens and auto-exposure electronics, the less you’ll have to fiddle with these problems.

The built-in Stroke Training tool is designed more for the ‘self-help’ users of this program.   Be advised that if you want it to work for you, you will need to have a monochromatic background and clothing, and fine resolution/color rendering from your camera/computer setup.  Otherwise you will find it difficult to use.  In the pictures shown above, the room’s décor, lighting and camera capabilities made the feature impossible to use.  This feature will use beeps or a voice prompt to let you know when your grip arm and the cue stick make a 90 degree angle.

The Break Speed Measurement tool can be an interesting exercise for some people.  I personally don’t have a care about the speed of my break shot but it always seems to be the focus of some contest at tournaments and in Las Vegas.  The tool uses only the microphone input to your computer (likely a part of your camera), and your accurate measurement of the distance between the base of the cue ball and base of the head ball in the rack.  Bob does include an explanation and proof of the process that takes your distance input, in inches, and then uses two sounds – cue tip impacting the cue ball and cue ball striking racked balls – to calculate the time between impacts and convert it to miles-per-hour.  Fascinating, Dr. McCoy, but a room with a lot of noise or bad acoustics or an omni-directional microphone can muck up the process, so be ready to experiment, if you choose to play with this feature.

Bottom line:  Aimed at both instructors and players, ‘StrokeAnalyzer’ software combines video recording, saving, review and drawing tools, AND it will save snapshot files of videos WITH your drawing markups, including text.  For past video analysis of pool students, I would have to use separate video and screen drawing programs, or draw on a screen overlay with a dry-erase marker.  It could be effective during the training session, but the drawings AND video couldn’t be saved together, given to the student or quickly compared to analysis from past training sessions.  ‘StrokeAnalyzer’ puts it all together and makes it easy.  I'll be using it from now on.

It’s worth a look.  Check it out here:

http://strokeanalyzer.com/index.htm .

Sincerely,

Lynn Westhoven

www.cuemechanics.net