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To this point, we have used photos, graphics and titles from TriCaster’s Media Players as sources for several different exercises. Of course, for DSK and M/E Key purposes, this approach requires you to carefully ensure that that the current playlist entry in the respective Media Player is the right one for the moment.
TriCaster’s Buffers provide an alternative workflow that not only prevents selection ‘accidents’, but also offers other benefits.
1. Add the image file TriCaster Logo w. Bkgnd.png from Still > NewTek > Logos to the playlist of a Media Player.
FIGURE 85
2. Right-click on the new icon in the playlist, and slide the mouse pointer down to the item Send to Buffer. Select BFR 1 from the sub-menu that appears.
3. Select the button labeled BFR as the input B source in the M/E tab. The image you sent to Buffer 1 now appears on the virtual monitor in the LiveSet.
FIGURE 86
Hint: Right-click a Buffer button in an M/E or Switcher row to set which particular Buffer (1-15) the button refers to.
4. To finish up, right-click the original TriCaster Logo w. Bkgnd.png icon in the Media Player, and select Remove. Observe that the correct image continues to appear when the LiveSet is displayed, even though the original image file no longer exists in the playlist.
Actually, the Send to Buffer function copied the source file and placed it in a special folder (C:\TriCaster\Effects\Frame Buffer\session_name\). It remains available there, even when the original file is not only unavailable from the playlist, but has actually been deleted from the hard drive.
Hint: There are serveral other important Buffer media types, including titles and powerful animated buffer effects (selected models). See Section 11.4 for complete details.
TriCaster provides fifteen separate Buffers. These can be assigned to primary M/E
or Switcher inputs, or be used as sources for any DSK or Key overlay.
Note: Still image Buffers can be updated across a network using any suitable application (including Adobe Photoshop™) when Share Media Folders and Buffers is enabled in the TriCaster File menu. See Section 11.4 for more information on Buffers.