logo

Live Production Software Forums


Welcome Guest! To enable all features please Login or Register.

Notification

Icon
Error

Options
Go to last post Go to first unread
dansblee  
#1 Posted : Monday, August 2, 2021 2:16:47 PM(UTC)
dansblee

Rank: Newbie

Groups: Registered
Joined: 7/25/2021(UTC)
Posts: 6
Singapore

Hi,

I currently have 2 licenses for vMix and will be adding more over the coming months. Great product.

However as we are building more complex shows with stacked multiviews and triggered overlays, the input view has become very cluttered, leading to difficulty and delay in finding the correct shots/inputs, especially if the shots are repeated and used out of order, eg. Host/MC shot which is setup once but used repeated during the show.

Our programming workflow uses multiviews to composite a final shot from various inputs, ie. Base layer graphics, ZoomISO/live capture speakers feeds and triggers to automate lower thirds (graphics or short animated videos) fading in and out. This can results in a show with 100 to 200 different inputs. Often, clients request last minute changes and so we group the "child" elements beside each multiview composition to ease editing and reduce the amount of hunting required to find a specific source element

For example, a 4PIP will have
(a) a multiview composite with a base graphic, and 4 video windows (from ZoomISO or Live video capture)
(b) a transparent input with 4 multiview layers each with a Lower Thirds graphic/video positioned and zoomed over the actual 4PIP video which is triggered using overlay
So this single 4PIP will require some 6-10 individual inputs (depending on complexity) to composite the 2 final inputs which are actually used.

A dedicated interface to lay out the flow of the show by calling specific inputs, separate from the actual input list, similar to a CUE LIST in lighting programming would be extremely useful.

Example:
Cue 1 - Show start video loop (Input 1)
Cue 2 - Add countdown timer (activate overlay 1 with GT Title on Input 2)
Cue 3 - Remove Overlays and start show intro video (Input 4 which has triggers to remove overlays on TransitionIn)
Cue 4 - Fade to Host/MC (Input 7 which has triggers to fire Lowerthirds and remove after 10s)
Cue 5 - Fade to 4PIP Panel (Input 9)
Cue 6 - Fade to Host/MC (Input 7 which has triggers to fire Lowerthirds and remove after 10s)
Cue 7 - Fade to 3PIP Panel (input 23)
* normally involves scrolling down to actually find and select input 23

Cue 8 - Fade to Host/MC (Input 7 which has triggers to fire Lowerthirds and remove after 10s)
* normally involved scrolling back up to actually find and select input 7

etc etc


1. With each cue manually triggered, we can actually run the show without scrolling thru the entire list of inputs to select the correct one.

2. Each cue would ideally be configured using the standard API functions and thus we can configure standby cues, for example bring the Host/MC shot to preview ready for a fade or direct action cues like configure activation of a timer/lower third overlay to be fired at the appropriate time.

3. Similar to the Multiviews, the Cue list should track changes to input numbers, so that if we update the actual list of inputs by rearranging or insertion of new inputs, the appropriate input numbers should be updated in the cue list.

4. Once the show is setup and ready to go, we can operate the entire show from a single Cue List interface without "hunting"/"scrolling" thru the entire list of inputs to select the next correct one.

So basically a list of shortcuts setup in order with a manual fire button prebuilt in show order without having to associate actual controller shortcut keys.

Again, great product and hope this is something that you can implement as it will help significantly for shows, especially those with very short gaps between inputs being fired in sequence.

Regards,
Daniel Lee
ask  
#2 Posted : Monday, August 2, 2021 2:56:49 PM(UTC)
ask

Rank: Advanced Member

Groups: Registered
Joined: 10/13/2012(UTC)
Posts: 1,161
Australia
Location: Melbourne

Thanks: 220 times
Was thanked: 199 time(s) in 181 post(s)
This seems to be something that you could do with ShoFlo (for the cue/run sheet) and an x-keys controller (or other midi controller). You could also add Central Control to setup complex items.

vMix Panel Builder or UTC could be utilised if you want to keep it all PC based. I'm not totally convinced that the development effort for this case would be justified considering that there are other ways to achieve the result you are after.
dansblee  
#3 Posted : Monday, August 2, 2021 5:09:32 PM(UTC)
dansblee

Rank: Newbie

Groups: Registered
Joined: 7/25/2021(UTC)
Posts: 6
Singapore

Hi,

I understand that this can be done via other external means such as a StreamDeck via shortcuts or Central Control.

However this feature request arises from a recent event we did whereby the client was unfortunately (a) very disorganised (b) submitted the graphical components to us very late and (c) kept changing the show flow even at the last minute. We normally use external controllers to do this (either a StreamDeck or an Akai APC20 depending on the number of cues required). However the additional time required to integrate and program the external controller for this one was a deterrent at that point as the complexity of the show dramatically.

Hence the request for a quick and simple Cue List that we can quickly populate with the Input sequence and then run the show. I think the request is not for a complex system which you are correct in saying is better done with external software but rather something which can be run in a pinch.
Howlswolf  
#4 Posted : Tuesday, August 3, 2021 1:06:23 AM(UTC)
Howlswolf

Rank: Advanced Member

Groups: Registered
Joined: 9/22/2020(UTC)
Posts: 44
Canada

Thanks: 1 times
Was thanked: 5 time(s) in 5 post(s)
Im assuming you have tested with the Playlist in vMix ? I know its not perfect, but you can automate alot of stuffs, and if you set it to be operated manually it could worked for most of what you described ...
David_in_Philly  
#5 Posted : Tuesday, August 3, 2021 10:42:03 AM(UTC)
David_in_Philly

Rank: Advanced Member

Groups: Registered
Joined: 11/21/2017(UTC)
Posts: 123
United States
Location: Philadephia, PA

Thanks: 31 times
Was thanked: 13 time(s) in 8 post(s)
+1
dansblee  
#6 Posted : Tuesday, August 3, 2021 3:27:10 PM(UTC)
dansblee

Rank: Newbie

Groups: Registered
Joined: 7/25/2021(UTC)
Posts: 6
Singapore

Originally Posted by: Howlswolf Go to Quoted Post
Im assuming you have tested with the Playlist in vMix ? I know its not perfect, but you can automate alot of stuffs, and if you set it to be operated manually it could worked for most of what you described ...


I don't think this is a playlist capable function.

I am referring to calling actual Inputs which may be Video, Graphics or usually a MultiView layered shot of several elements.
A standard "CUE" might be to call an Input or activate a Overlay of a Multiview layered shot such as multiple lower-thirds for a 3 or 4 PiP show to bring in and out as required.


Blindestrobe  
#7 Posted : Saturday, November 13, 2021 5:52:03 AM(UTC)
Blindestrobe

Rank: Newbie

Groups: Registered
Joined: 11/13/2021(UTC)
Posts: 1

+1 Very very usefull feature!!!!
and the Playlist function is not quite complex enough.
For inspiration look at Qlab ex. functions like,
- trigger next cue when previous cue is complete
- delay Times
- Cue trigger midi note xx

would make Vmix that much more complex and versatile
Users browsing this topic
Forum Jump  
You cannot post new topics in this forum.
You cannot reply to topics in this forum.
You cannot delete your posts in this forum.
You cannot edit your posts in this forum.
You cannot create polls in this forum.
You cannot vote in polls in this forum.