< Previous | Contents | Next >
We discussed video layers in Section 9.2. With this in mind, it’s easy to comprehend the layout and use of TriCaster’s Transition controls.
At left in this group are the main Transition controls, including the T-bar. The larger portion at right provides solo control and configuration options individually for the four primary DSK layers.
Main Layer Controls | Solo DSK Layer Controls |
FIGURE 154 (TRICASTER 8000 SHOWN) | |
Let’s consider the individual DSK Layer Controls first.
Pressing the local Take button for any DSK displays or hides the corresponding video layer (shown on top of the BKGD layer).
The local Auto buttons perform similarly, but apply the currently selected transition - that is, the effect represented by the thumbnail icon shown.
FIGURE 155
Hint: You can halt an Auto operation partway by clicking the button again during the transition. For DSK (and M/E KEY layer) transitions, if the effect has progressed more than halfway when halted, clicking Auto again will complete it. Otherwise it is reversed, returning the layer to its prior display state.
CONFIGURING TRANSITIONS
Each DSK has its own transition effect, applied when you click Auto. Click the transition icon for any DSK control area to reveal a palette of different transitions
provided for quick selection, shown in Figure 156 (4-input models do not require this control).
This opens the Custom Media
Browser to let you choose from the hundreds of
transition effects included with TriCaster, or even custom Animation Store effects that you prepare using the included Animation Store Creator application.
The selected effect will replace the current one in the palette.
Hint: The frequently-used Fade transition is always available in transiiton palette. As it cannot be replaced, no Configure button appears for its icon.
Transition durations are controlled independently on a ‘per slot’ basis, using a numeric setting above the effect icon. You can drag the mouse pointer left or right over the numeric display to set a custom time, or alternatively, click the numeric field directly to enable keyboard entry.
Another approach to setting duration allows you to quickly select a duration setting from the drop-down menu provided. The menu provides convenient two, one and ½ second presets.
FIGURE 157
Hint: The direction of Transitions applied as DSK (and M/E Key) effects automatically alternates. If the first click displays the layer using an effect, the next click removes it using the reverse effect. This ‘Ping Pong’ behavior is optional for BKGD (Background) layer transitions.
ANIMATION STORE TRANSITIONS
TriCaster can also employ special transition effects called Animation Stores. These powerful effects normally include an embedded full color animated overlay, along with individual sounds for transitioning in and out (transition sounds are optional; also note that audio level control for Effects is provided in the Audio (mixer) tab).
These special Animation Store transitions are loaded into the Transition Palette in the same way as their less colorful cousins, using the Browse feature.
A number of Animation Store transitions are supplied, but you can generate your own using the supplied Animation Store Creator application and custom animation content you have access to or create using art software.
Note: The Animation Store Creator application is covered in its own manual, which can be opened from the Help menu in TriCaster Startup.
DSK POSITIONING
Each DSK layer has its own Position button and settings. Click the ‘diamond’ button to open the Position panel. This button is a toggle switch, and is lit when Position settings for the associated DSK are active.
Position panel settings are organized into three groups from top to bottom:
1. Position
2. Crop Edges
3. Follow Tracker
The current settings for each group can be toggled as well, using the switch provided.
The upper-most section of the panel is devoted to Position settings. Across the top you will see three labels: Position, Rotation, and Scale (viewed from left to right).
Click and drag on the Position button to relocate the associated DSK layer vertically or horizontally within the frame. Dragging left or right directly on either of the two nearby numeric controls adjusts the position on a single axis only.
FIGURE 159 (TriCaster 8000 shown)
Hint: You can also constrain mouse actions to one axis by holding down the Ctrl key before dragging.
In similar fashion, drag the pointer over the Rotation button with the left mouse button depressed to turn the overlay source on three axes as follows:
Drag left/right to rotate the source about the Y (vertical) axis.
Drag up/down to rotate the source about the X (horizontal) axis.
FIGURE 160
Drag while holding Alt down to rotate about the Z axis.
Drag on a single numeric slider below, or hold down Ctrl while dragging to constrain rotation to one axis.
Dragging the cursor on the Scale button (magnifying glass) affects the size of the overlay.
When Keep Aspect is enabled, dragging in any direction
DSK layers automatically appear temporarily on the Preview and (M/E Preview) monitors when the Position panel is open (regardless layer display options).
This frees you to tinker with positioning without the result appearing on output prematurely.
FIGURE 161
affects scale equally on both axes.
Otherwise, dragging vertically on Scale changes the height, while dragging horizontally affects width.
Hint: If you click a numeric field (or right-click it), you can type a value into the gadget using the keyboard – press Enter to complete the editing action, or Esc to cancel it).
Again, if you drag just one of the numeric gadgets below the Scale button (with the lock disabled) or hold down Ctrl while doing so, you can adjust just one dimension of the corresponding DSK layer – width or height.
EDGES
FIGURE 162
Edge controls for DSK layers are similar to those found in TriCaster’s Input Configuration panel. However these settings are independent, applying even when the similar option in Input Configuration is not active. Individual settings can be reset by double-clicking with the shift key held down. Restore default settings to all parameters of the Position or Crop control groups by clicking Reset.
FOLLOW TRACKER
Assign the motion data output from the Tracker for any video source to the current DSK layer by selecting it in this menu.
Positioner settings enabled above continue in force,
FIGURE 163
but will be applied relative to Tracker output. For example, X and Y Position settings entered in the upper part of the panel result in an offset from the co-ordinates supplied by the Tracker.
DSK TRANSPARENCY
Sources assigned to DSKs are often partially transparent. This might be because they are drawn from a Media Player (DDR or Graphics) file that includes an embedded alpha channel, because LiveMatte or Crop options are enabled for the source, because a Network source includes an alpha channel, or all of these factors operating together.
In all of these cases, DSK layers automatically respect transparency when supplied by the source. The BKGD layer and all visible content in lower-numbered DSKs will appear through or around sources with transparency as appropriate.
Important Note: It’s best to use files with straight (a.k.a. “non-premultiplied”) alpha channels in TriCaster’s Media Players. Premultiplied files will generally not yield correct results when overlaid on other imagery.
TriCaster’s DSK layers offer a lot of creative possibilities. You might use DSK channels to display a permanent station ID ‘bug’, superimpose a company logo onto a title page, perhaps to add a ‘spinning globe’ animation playing in the DDR to a lower-third, ‘frame’ a keyed source composed over a title (Figure 164), or set up many other elaborate effects in this manner.
In large measure, TriCaster’s main Transition controls behave similarly to their local sidekicks. What makes them especially powerful is the T-bar and Transition Delegate button group located just above.
BACKGROUND TRANSITION
Transition control settings in this section apply to the Background video layer only. In most respects, these tools are identical to the DSK transition controls discussed earlier (Section 9.3.1), but there is one difference worth mentioning.
The Duration menu for the Background transition offers two additional items compared to the similar menu in the DSK control groups:
Reverse – configures the current transition to run in reverse direction the next time it is applied.
Ping Pong – when enabled, this option causes the direction of the transition to be automatically swapped after each time it is applied.
TRANSITION DELEGATES
An executive maxim suggests “Don’t do anything yourself when you can delegate it”. The familiar main T-bar, Auto and Take controls occupying the left half of TriCaster’s Transition control group are surmounted by a set of Transition Delegate buttons.
FIGURE 165
Let’s see how applying the concept of delegating controls affects their use:
Assign something suitable to the DSK 1 and DSK 2
layers.
Click the solo Take buttons in the DSK control groups to hide these DSK layers, if they are visible on output.
Click the BKGD button in the Transition Delegate
group.
Click the main Auto button (below the T-bar).
FIGURE 166
Now, hold down the Ctrl key and click the delegate button for DSK 1. Or, press both the BKGD and DSK 1 buttons in the TriCaster CS (control surface) Transition Delegate group at the same time instead.
You have just delegated the controls below to two video layers. You can likely guess what comes next.
Press Auto or Take, and observe the result.
Now add DSK 2 to the delegate selection, and switch again. The BKGD layer is updated, DSK 1 is removed, and DSK 2 is displayed.
Hint: The Look Ahead Preview monitor respects your Transition Delegate selections, allowing you to configure layers for upcoming switcher operations with great confidence.
A progress bar beneath the each of the DSK control groups tracks transition progress (progress bars remain fully ‘on’ when a layer is 100% displayed).
FTB
Let’s discuss the final button in the Transition Delegate group – FTB.
The acronym (i) stands for Fade to Black. The result of selecting the FTB delegate and displaying the video layer it controls will not likely surprise you very much. FTB offers a convenient method of doing precisely what its name implies, simply fading Program Output out completely (to black).
It might help to think of FTB as ‘DSK 5’, since it represents a final video layer added above all others before ultimate Program output. FTB has several unique characteristics, however. For one thing, DSKs can display colorful video sources (with or without transparency); the FTB video layer is always 100% opaque black, and completely obscures everything below it.
Note: Like the DSK layers, hiding or displaying FTB triggers both Autoplay and Audio Follow Video when these settings are active for Media Players. FTB also fades Master Audio to mute when displayed, and back up again when hidden.
Also unlike other video layers, FTB does not support custom transitions (pressing Auto simply fades it on or off) or timing; FTB’s fade duration is drawn from the BKGD layer setting.
Hint: Hold down Shift while pressing the (CS or onscreen) FTB button to directly initiate an FTB operation, rather than merely delegating the T-bar to it. As a memory aid , the FTB button pulses during operation.
TAKE AND AUTO
As we have seen, clicking the main Take button (keyboard shortcut Enter) performs a straight cut for all video layers that are currently selected in the Transition Delegate group.
Likewise, if you press Auto (or the keyboard Spacebar), the transitions assigned to all delegated video layers are performed.
You can halt an Auto operation partway by clicking the button a second time during the transition. The operation will be completed the next time you click the button.
Note that there are local (BKGD layer-only) Take and Auto buttons beneath the Background Transition icon.
T-BAR
The T-bar mimics the similar control on a traditional video
FIGURE 167
switcher, and allows you to manually perform a transition between delegated video layers (see the sub-heading Transition Delegates above).
To use the T-bar, pull it downward by dragging it with the mouse pointer. Drag it all the way to the bottom and release to complete a transition; the T-bar then pops back to the top.
Hint: Naturally, when the T-bar is dragged part way, a partial transition occurs. With certain transitions this can be useful for split screen effects.
FIGURE 168
4-INPUT SERIES TRICASTER TRANSITION BIN
Since a little more free space is available on the Live Desktop of 4-input TriCaster models, an expanded version of the effect control is provided for the most important transition selection (Background).
This Background Transition bin shows eight different icons for immediate selection. The all-important Fade is permanently affixed to the first slot in the bin, but the others can be replaced easily: simply move the mouse pointer over an icon, and click the small + button that appears (in its upper right corner) to open TriCaster’s Media Browser.
