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Method(s) to prevent unwanted camera transitions
Rank: Newbie
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Joined: 2/25/2024(UTC) Posts: 7  Location: Bethesda, Maryland USA Thanks: 2 times
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Hello all, we run a 4 PTZ camera setup at our church. We have mostly volunteers running vMix. We use a lot of virtual camera inpust, i.e. saved PTZ shots. Everyone, including myself, will sometimes forget and bring a PTZ shot into preview that uses the live camera, which causes the live camera to do a fast zoom and jerk to the new position. We name all of our PTZ shots like "REAR - PULPIT" or "BALCONY - CHOIR". REAR and BALCONY camera names, so it's easy to tell which camera is live at all times. But still, people forget sometimes and put a shot into preview that uses the live camera, causing the fast jerk and zoom.
I hope there is something obvious I'm missing that could prevent this. Just today, I decided to put each camera's shots into a separate tab. This still won't prevent the issue, but if everyone learns to immediately go to a different camera tab after taking a new shot live, this could do a lot to prevent this issue. Still, I wish there was something foolproof that would at least warn the user before letting them put the live camera into preview. I was hoping I might be able to script a solution but it doesn't appear that the API gives you that level of control.
Any ideas? How do other people deal with this issue?
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Rank: Advanced Member
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Joined: 12/27/2012(UTC) Posts: 5,219  Location: Belgium Thanks: 293 times
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Originally Posted by: Mike McCrickard  Hello all, we run a 4 PTZ camera setup at our church. We have mostly volunteers running vMix. We use a lot of virtual camera inpust, i.e. saved PTZ shots. Everyone, including myself, will sometimes forget and bring a PTZ shot into preview that uses the live camera, which causes the live camera to do a fast zoom and jerk to the new position. We name all of our PTZ shots like "REAR - PULPIT" or "BALCONY - CHOIR". REAR and BALCONY camera names, so it's easy to tell which camera is live at all times. But still, people forget sometimes and put a shot into preview that uses the live camera, causing the fast jerk and zoom.
I hope there is something obvious I'm missing that could prevent this. Just today, I decided to put each camera's shots into a separate tab. This still won't prevent the issue, but if everyone learns to immediately go to a different camera tab after taking a new shot live, this could do a lot to prevent this issue. Still, I wish there was something foolproof that would at least warn the user before letting them put the live camera into preview. I was hoping I might be able to script a solution but it doesn't appear that the API gives you that level of control.
Any ideas? How do other people deal with this issue? IMO its a visual aid problem. Reading the names can be difficult or confusing. a better aid might be a colored feedback using Acitvators like with a streamdeck . then one could instantly see which cam is active and avoid pressing its particular position buttons/shortcuts presets. this recent post sort of adresses this idea https://forums.vmix.com/...r-one-stream-deck-button
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Rank: Newbie
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Joined: 2/25/2024(UTC) Posts: 7 Location: Bethesda, Maryland USA Thanks: 2 times
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That's a great point about it being a visual aid problem. Some small changes to the interface could make the problem much less challenging. All of the inputs in the input area have that same blue color for the background of the title bar. If each one had the color of the tab they were assigned to AND we had the option of having those colors stick and not change when selected, then it would be more obvious when you are about to make a mistake. As in, look at the color at the top of the program window and make sure you are not picking from that color group. Colors register so much easier and quicker than words do.
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Rank: Advanced Member
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Joined: 12/27/2012(UTC) Posts: 5,219 Location: Belgium Thanks: 293 times
Was thanked: 955 time(s) in 790 post(s)
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Originally Posted by: Mike McCrickard That's a great point about it being a visual aid problem. Some small changes to the interface could make the problem much less challenging. All of the inputs in the input area have that same blue color for the background of the title bar. If each one had the color of the tab they were assigned to AND we had the option of having those colors stick and not change when selected, then it would be more obvious when you are about to make a mistake. As in, look at the color at the top of the program window and make sure you are not picking from that color group. Colors register so much easier and quicker than words do. Might seem a small change but it wouldn't ne at all . Would strongly advice , especially with volunteers, to use external controllers. That way you make only available whats needed and give feedback ( color change on status in the buttons) how you prefer. Elgato Stream Decks are excelent for that but if that is to expensive a akai apc mini will also do the trick (less color choises though and have to make label) for example each row could represent a preset that you can select (and light up) but also as indicated before one button that light up if any of the presets in that row are active .simple and visually very clear (tested)
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Rank: Newbie
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Joined: 2/25/2024(UTC) Posts: 7 Location: Bethesda, Maryland USA Thanks: 2 times
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I've heard of those streamdecks but never checked them out before. That XL with the 4 x 8 grid of buttons would be perfect, as we are using 4 cameras. Each row could be a set of PTZ shots for a single camera. And so the buttons in each row would be mutually exclusive, as in only one could be lit (active) at a time? It would be pretty hard to mess up with that feedback. I assume you can't get screenshots into those buttons, but can you do custom text instead?
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Rank: Advanced Member
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Joined: 12/27/2012(UTC) Posts: 5,219 Location: Belgium Thanks: 293 times
Was thanked: 955 time(s) in 790 post(s)
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Originally Posted by: Mike McCrickard only one could be lit (active) at a time?
I assume you can't get screenshots into those buttons, but can you do custom text instead? yes and can do both , and personal icons and colors ..... Once you go SD you never ......
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 1 user thanked doggy for this useful post.
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Rank: Newbie
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Joined: 2/25/2024(UTC) Posts: 7 Location: Bethesda, Maryland USA Thanks: 2 times
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OK, this sounds like fun to me now! Thanks.
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Rank: Newbie
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Joined: 2/25/2024(UTC) Posts: 7 Location: Bethesda, Maryland USA Thanks: 2 times
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OK, bought a StreamDeck XL. Seems very straightforward and the plug-in seems to work great for shortcuts. But activators are a different story. I truly hope that it is my inexperience, but what I'm trying to do is dedicate a button on each row to show whether or not the corresponding camera is live.
This is a simplified version of what I have:
[Front Camera -- button is blank] [Shot 1] [Shot 2] [Shot 3]
[Rear Camera -- button is blank] [Shot 1] [Shot 2] [Shot 3]
The first button on each row don't have shortcuts. They are just indicators, triggered by activators. The Shot buttons put the corresponding shot into Preview. They work fine.
What I want is for the activator button on the Front Camera to go red, anytime a shot from that camera transitions to the program window. I can set up activators on each of those Shot buttons (Key is the first button on the row, Event is Input, and I select that Shot to be the triggering Input). This works fine until I do the same thing on the second row. Then the activators on the first row stop working. Then, I may or may not be able to get any activators to work on the second row. The behavior seems very inconsistent with activators but fine with shortcuts. Am I doing something wrong?
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Rank: Advanced Member
Groups: Registered
Joined: 12/27/2012(UTC) Posts: 5,219 Location: Belgium Thanks: 293 times
Was thanked: 955 time(s) in 790 post(s)
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Originally Posted by: Mike McCrickard OK, bought a StreamDeck XL. Seems very straightforward and the plug-in seems to work great for shortcuts. But activators are a different story. I truly hope that it is my inexperience, but what I'm trying to do is dedicate a button on each row to show whether or not the corresponding camera is live.
This is a simplified version of what I have:
[Front Camera -- button is blank] [Shot 1] [Shot 2] [Shot 3]
[Rear Camera -- button is blank] [Shot 1] [Shot 2] [Shot 3]
The first button on each row don't have shortcuts. They are just indicators, triggered by activators. The Shot buttons put the corresponding shot into Preview. They work fine.
What I want is for the activator button on the Front Camera to go red, anytime a shot from that camera transitions to the program window. I can set up activators on each of those Shot buttons (Key is the first button on the row, Event is Input, and I select that Shot to be the triggering Input). This works fine until I do the same thing on the second row. Then the activators on the first row stop working. Then, I may or may not be able to get any activators to work on the second row. The behavior seems very inconsistent with activators but fine with shortcuts. Am I doing something wrong?
Try working wit dynamicinputs A workaround is to SetDynamicInputX to the original camera input whenever you select a PTZ preview with your shortcut On the camera button set activator to event DynamicInputX
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Rank: Newbie
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Joined: 2/25/2024(UTC) Posts: 7 Location: Bethesda, Maryland USA Thanks: 2 times
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That may well work but it's definitely a workaround. I'd like to simplify the question. Is it OK to have a shortcut and and an activator associated with a single button? As in, if my button puts a particular shot into the preview,
can it also trigger the activator on another button? And, can multiple shortcut buttons activate the same button, as in turn it red? My experience is that it works fine with one camera and one set of PTZ shot shortcuts, but not when you
expand beyond that.
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Multiple activators on one button are not possible with the Streamdeck vMix plugin. Bitfocus Companion is a different software to connect vMix and Streamdeck, and it allows multiple activators.
Another possibility is to add an OnTransitionIn trigger on the virtual inputs to set the original PTZ input as ActiveInput, so one activator will do.
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1 user thanked dmwkr for this useful post.
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Rank: Newbie
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Joined: 2/25/2024(UTC) Posts: 7 Location: Bethesda, Maryland USA Thanks: 2 times
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And it's free, I see! I will definitely check it out and see if it "tame" my new StreamDeck and fulfill my ideas for streamlining our video mixing. Thanks for the idea and the link.
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