I have finally got the time to play with the Web Scripting functionality (16.0.0.112). Amazing!!!
After some tweaking back and forth I have been able to fully automate a rather complicated start and end of a regular show we produce. Microphones get muted, recording starts, intro is played, and so forth.
A life saver - well... sort of ;)
During the process I have run inte a few issues. Maybe someone with more experience can help me to clear these out. And hopefully my findings are useful for others. Some issues might actually be bugs.
STRANGE/UNCLEAR BEHAVIOUR WITH WaitForCompletion
Initially I tried automating with shortcuts and triggers. According to the Help, WaitForCompletition:
"Wait for a Video Input to reach the end of playback", with parameters Input, Duration.
I do not understand what Duration is for. Of course a video has a duration. Should one specify the full length, the length of an eventual trim, or perhaps how much one wants to be played? In any case, if the Duration is specified as longer than 10000 ms (when the video is longer than that) an error message is generated. How duration is treated seems also to differ between if "Active" or the actual Input with the video is specified as "Input" in the Shortcut.
WEB SCRIPTING AND SLEEP
So, I turned to Web scripting, with its unique Sleep command that:
"will pause for a number of milliseconds between two functions".
To begin with, for at least one function (PreviewInput) it is only possible to use the Input's number. Using the Input's name does not work (bug?).
For some reason the following order order of function does not work. The PreviewInput is not executed. AudioOff needs to be put before the Fade for the PreviewInput to be executed.
Quote:Function=PreviewInput&Input=9
Function=Fade&Duration=1000
Function=AudioOff&Input=House-In
Sleep 8000
I also had problems getting the hang of how Sleep times interact with other functions. I have been able to tweak things to happen when I want, but the Sleep times I end up with are not always intuitive. After some experimentations I have reached the following conclusions.
- If a function before the Sleep takes time, that time should be deducted from the Sleep time. For example, if one wants to Fade (500 ms) into an 8 second video at Input 1, and then do a cut immediately after the video has played through:
Quote:Function=PreviewInput&Input=1
Function=Fade&Duration=500
Sleep 7500
Function=PreviewInput&Input=2
Function=Cut
- The default Duration for Fade seems to be 1000 ms (same defaults as for Shortcuts?)
- FadeToBlack takes time, not sure how much though (can't find any info in Help)
- For Overlay[n]In (and [n]Out), deduct the times set for the corresponding overlay
- I guess that Transtion[n], takes the time as set for the corresponding transition button
