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A.3.1 MAKE CUSTOM TRANSITIONS AND LIVESETS?
The Animation Store Creator application is included with your TriCaster. Its documentation can be accessed from the Help menu on the Home Page in Startup.
As well, an optional, user-friendly, tool called TriCaster Virtual Set Editor™ is available. This tool makes it easy to modify LiveSets to suit your specific needs.
A.3.2 RESTORE THE DEFAULT LIVESET?
1. Click the label button [...] above the current LiveSet name to open the Media Browser.
2. Click the NewTek heading beneath the LiveSets heading in the locations list at left.
3. Select Default (2 Layer) in the Default group in the file pane at right.
A.3.3 SET UP THE ‘NIGHTLY SHOW A’ LIVESET?
As you may know, TriCaster 8000’s LiveSets support four primary video inputs, along with sources dedicated to Key channels. Other models provide less video inputs for effects. The ‘Nightly Show A’ LiveSet is special in that it appears to show many different video sources simultaneously (see Figure 396), even including a moving ‘news ticker’.
Hint: A template clip (Figure 398) is supplied in the Clips>NewTek folder (as are several looping sample clips). You can use the template as a guide to prepare similar clips with content positioned correctly for use with the Nightly Show set, using in the software of your choice.
To configure the effect:
1. Assign your talent shot to Input A in the M/E tab
2. Put the looping montage clip you prepared in a DDR, and select that DDR as
Input B.
This particular set was designed to work with all TCXD model TriCasters, including those supporting just two primary sources. For TriCaster 8000 (only), which adds C and D inputs in M/E panels, the set has been updated as follows to provide more ability:
Input C targets the ‘virtual ticker’. Knowing this, you might for example use Input C’s positioner to compose a LiveText feed (from a Network input) to correspond to the lower right quadrant of the template clip (as seen in Figure 398 above). This would then be mapped to the ticker, allowing you to update the virtual ticker remotely.
Input D is mapped to the virtual ‘control room monitor displays’. Position another source to conform to any of the numbered input areas of the template clip to replace the corresponding ‘screen ‘in the virtual control room. This allows you, for example, to send live video switched in another M/E to one of these monitors.
Hint: To use the set as originally designed, simply assign one looping ‘montage clip’ (like the provided samples) to all of inputs B, C an D.
A.3.4 SET UP THE ‘NIGHT BEAT 3D’ LIVESET?
Note: This effect requires TriCaster 8000, because it alone provides reentrant M/Es.
One of the sample LiveSets provided with TriCaster provides camera angles intended for use with the 3D Anaglyph effect. Here’s how to set up the Night Beat 3D LiveSet for this purpose:
1. Select an unused M/E, and assign a keyed talent shot to Input A.
2. Assign another source, perhaps a full frame graphic, to Input B.
3. Click the button labeled Effect above the central Effect thumbnail.
4. Click the + sign that appears when you move the mouse over the label below the effect thumbnail to open a Media Browser.
5. Click the NewTek label under the LiveSet heading in the Media Browser, and choose “3D Center L.LiveSet” from the “Night Beat” folder in the file pane at right.
This M/E provides the left angle for the center desk shot of the ultimate 3D result.
6. Choose another free M/E, and set it up exactly as described above – but this time choose “3D Center R.LiveSet” from the “Night Beat” folder.
This second M/E provides the right angle for the 3D effect.
7. Set a third M/E pane to Effect mode, and assign “3D Anaglyph (Red, Cyan).LiveSet” from the “3D” folder to it.
8. In this third M/E pane, assign the left angle M/E prepared earlier to Input A, and the M/E you configured as the right angle to Input B.
9. Select this third M/E on the main Switcher’s Program row, and view the result through red/cyan 3D glasses. (Note that the anaglyph effect is maintained even through a LiveSet zoom.)
Hint: If you assign suitable left and right images to the Input B rows of the respective left and right M/Es, the desk front monitor imagery will also be shown in 3D.
A.3.1 SET UP THE ‘METROPOLIS A’ LIVESET?
Note: This number of sources required for this effect limits its use to TriCaster 8000.
Metropolis is a ‘million dollar set’, and provides endless opportunities for creative use. There are actually two versions of this set, labeled A and B, with multiple shots in each group. The second of these groups (‘B’) employs tighter camera shots with less video sources visible at one time, and requires no special care to configure.
Metropolis A, however, is a complex set, with three different primary talent positions as well as numerous secondary displays. When viewed in its widest zoom angle, it can require as many as 8 different sources to supply all of these – not counting the Key (overlay) layers.
FIGURE 399
Since a single M/E accommodates four independent sources (Inputs A-D) at most, it requires two M/Es to take full advantage of Metropolis A. Here’s how to set up the most complex shot in this network-class virtual set group:
1. Select an unused M/E – let’s use M/E 1 for our example.
2. Click the button labeled Effect above the Effect thumbnail in the M/E pane.
3. Click the + sign that appears when you move the mouse over the label below the thumbnail to open a Media Browser.
4. Click the NewTek label under the LiveSet heading in the Media Browser, and choose “Metropolis A Wide” from the “Metropolis A” folder in the file pane at right.
5. Assign keyed talent sources to Inputs A, B and C.
6. Assign another M/E (we’ll use M/E 2) to Input D.
This last source – Input D – will provides the imagery for the live ‘news tickers’ in the scene, as well as the three large monitors behind the keyed talent sources.
7. Select the tab for the second M/E –M/E 2 in our example, and set it to effect mode as well.
8. Click the + sign that appears when you move the mouse over the label below the effect thumbnail to open a Media Browser.
9. Click the NewTek label under the LiveSet heading in the Media Browser, and choose “Metropolis A Quad Split” from the “Metropolis A” folder in the file pane at right.
10. Assign video or graphics sources to Inputs A-C. These inputs supply the three monitors behind your talent shots.
11. Input D is meant to feed animated text (whether from a DDR, or perhaps a Network Input source such as LiveText) to the various news tickers in the scene.
Your animated text should be centered vertically in the frame, and presented over either a transparent or black background. The font size need not be overly large, but you can use the Position tools for the Input D layer to scale and reposition it as necessary.
Hint: If you temporarily select M/E 2 on Program output, you’ll see how this quad source is arranged (prior to being fed to Input D of M/E 1).
1. Connect TriCaster to the Internet (see Section 3.16).
2. Open (or create) a TriCaster session (see Section 3.10).
3. Click the Configure (gear) button in the Dashboard’s Stream control area.
4. Supply Connection parameters in this panel as required (passwords, username, etc. (See Section 18.3)
5. Close the panel, and – when ready – click the Stream button. (See Section 4.13 and Chapter 17 Network for full details.)
A.3.3 FIND MY CAPTURED STREAM FILE?
1. Got to Locate the Home Page of the Startup Screen and click Open.
2. Click the name of the session you streamed at right.
3. Click the Manage icon on the Session Page.
4. Under Browse at right, click the Clips link. A system file explorer will open.
5. Open the Saved Streams folder in the file explorer.
1. Open (or create) a TriCaster session (see Section 3.10).
2. Click the Configure (gear) button in the Dashboard’s Record control.
3. Choose your recording options (see Section 4.8.1 and Chapter 20, Record and Grab) and enter a Base Name for the file(s).
4. Close the panel, and – when ready – click the Record button.
A.3.5 FIND MY RECORDED PROGRAM FILE?
1. Got to Locate the Home Page of the Startup Screen and click Open.
2. Click the name of the session you streamed at right.
3. Click the Manage icon on the Session Page.
4. Under Browse at right, click the Clips link. A system file explorer will open.
5. Open the Capture folder in the file explorer.
A.3.6 CHANGE PLAYBACK SPEED FOR CLIPS IN THE DDR (MEDIA PLAYER)?
The DDR’s Speed control adjusts playback speed between 25-400%. Simply adjust the slider knob to suit the need.
A.3.7 DEAL WITH DDR (MEDIA PLAYER) CLIPS THAT SEEM BLURRY?
When paused or stopped, TriCasters DDRs perform motion removal (to avoid unwanted flicker). This can make the image seem slightly blurred when paused, but it should look perfect during playback. (Recorded static title pages look their best when captured using the Grab function with De-Interlace turned off.)
A.3.8 GET STUBBORN CLIPS TO PLAY IN THE DDR?
First, note that TriCaster has a two minute warm-up period during which system software initializes. During this period, frames may be dropped during playback.
QUICKTIME®
At the time of writing, a 64bit version of Quicktime for Microsoft Windows® is not available. TriCaster provides internal support for many QuickTime file formats, but not all of them. If a QuickTime file fails to play smoothly (or at all) in the DDR, converting it to a friendlier format can help.
We recommend downloading and installing the NewTek TriCaster Codec Pack (Mac) from the downloads page of your personal registration area on the NewTek website (http://reg.newtek.com/Default.aspx). This will permit you to select from several NewTek SpeedHQ codecs (including 32bit formats with embedded alpha channel) from applications that render to Quicktime® formats.
Alternatively, Final Cut® users might consider M-JPEG, MPEG2, DVCPRO HD, or the DV Quicktime codec (for SD clips only, of course) as intermediate formats.
AVI
AVI codecs are plentiful. Most are suitable for DDR playback, but a few are not. For a given clip to play in the DDR, a corresponding 64bit codec needs to be available. However, we strongly discourage installing ‘foreign’ codecs, codec packs and the like downloaded from Internet sites, etc. For the sake of stability, if an AVI clip does not
play well in the DDR, please consider converting it to a ‘friendlier’ format. We can recommend NewTek’s own SpeedHQ, or perhaps DV (for Standard Definition clips), M2T or MPG – please continue reading for more information on file conversion.
REMUXING CLIPS
Even when a specific AVI exists and can generally be considered ‘friendly’, the manner in which audio and video data is multiplexed (or ‘muxed’, in the jargon) by some few applications can cause playback issues that are only evident under stress. That is, a clip that plays back adequately in a typical player or NLE application may not do as well when played in a DDR at times when many other concurrent operations are occurring simultaneously.
In general, remuxing such files is all that is needed to obtain good performance. One approach is to use any of a number of freely obtainable remuxing utilities. A quick Internet search for “remux avi” turns up several applications you could use, some free. Installed on an external system, these will remux AVI files losslessly, resolving the issue.
You may prefer one of several simpler approaches that can be performed right on your TriCaster. For example, if the clip will play properly in a DDR when the system is not heavily loaded with other tasks, you could simply put the DDR on Program output, click Record, play the clip, and stop recording. With a little trimming of the recorded clip you’ll have a very usable file.
Or, you can use SpeedEDIT – its Convert to SpeedHQ feature (found in the Filebin’s
context menu) can easily convert a number of clips in a single operation.
FLASH (F4V)
F4V format files written by Adobe® Flash Media Encoder are incompatible with most video playback applications (even those from Adobe). The developer has explained the situation as follows:
“Adobe Flash Media Server version 3.5 and later and Adobe Flash Media Live Encoder 3 can record content in MPEG-4 (F4V) format using an industry- standard recording technology known as "fragments" or "moof atoms." Some MPEG-4 compatible tools and players do not support moof atoms, and therefore cannot recognize files recorded by Flash Media Server. The F4V Post Processor
tool aggregates the information from all the moof atoms into a single moov atom and outputs a new file”
Unconverted F4V files imported will not play in TriCaster’s DDR either. Conveniently, TriCaster can automate the conversion for you to a degree. If you locate the folder named Media\Clips\sessionname\SavedStreams on your primary session drive, you will see the “raw” (unprocessed) streaming file(s) and a batch file (.bat) that can be used to convert all files in that folder.
Simply double-click the .bat file to initiate processing. (Note that processing can take some time, so don’t do this just before a production.) Output files will be placed in the same folder after conversion.
Hint: The .bat file supports several additional features if employed with command line switches. A readme file located in the same folder provides details of these alternatives.
If you prefer to perform this post-processing on another computer, you can transfer the raw files to it and use the Adobe F4V Post Processor tool, available from the URL below (requires an account to login):
https://www.adobe.com/cfusion/entitlement/index.cfm?event=custom&sku=FS0000522&e=fms35
A.3.9 CHANGE COLORS FOR AN ENTIRE TITLE PLAYLIST AT ONCE?
You can quickly alter the default colors for a complete playlist of Title Pages in a
Media Player (such as Titles).
1. Select the button for the player containing the titles on the Preview row of the Switcher.
2. Click the Configuration (gear) button for the player’s onscreen monitor to access the Proc Amp.
3. Click and drag the Hue slider left or right, swinging colors through the spectrum.
Observe that black and white graphics and titles are unaffected by the hue shift. In many cases, this allows you to modify background imagery without any effect on text objects (which are often white).
A.3.10 GET LIVE TITLE PAGES (.CGXML) TO RESPECT ALL LIVETEXT FONT
ATTRIBUTES?
TriCaster’s Title Page file format (.cgxml) presently supports almost every attribute that LiveText offers – but there are a few exceptions.
For example, multiple font styles on one text line are not supported, which means that different words on a single line cannot be different colors, or use different typefaces. (Of course you can achieve the same effect by using additional text objects as necessary.)
For similar reasons, text entered as paragraphs is automatically split into multiple lines in .cgxml Title Page files.
A.3.11 PREPARE A MATCHED GROUP OF M/ES?
Suppose you want to assign matching shots from one theme group of LiveSets to different M/Es (or MEM slot ).
1. Prepare the first M/E – click its tab, use the controls to select a LiveSet, assign and position a Key source, and select a shot (position/zoom preset).
2. Move the mouse pointer to the extreme left of the screen, right-click on the
Preset icon in the flyout preset bin, and select Export.
3. Supply a filename for the Preset.
4. Click the second M/E tab.
5. Right-click on a blank Preset, and select Import from the menu.
6. Select the file you exported above, and click Open.
The second M/E will adopt the exact same settings as the first. Now all you need to do is replace the currently assigned LiveSet with a matching one by clicking Add at upper-right in the tab, choosing the LiveSet you want, and clicking OK.
A.3.12 IMPROVE THE QUALITY OF MULTIVIEW OUTPUT?
For best visual quality, be sure that the Multiview Resolution you choose in the Dashboard’s Workspace menu corresponds to the optimum display size for the monitor connected (see Section 10.1).
NOTE: Changing Output Resolution can cause frames to be dropped briefly. Thus we do not recommend changing this setting during live production.