Using Text & Graphics with Softron s OnTheAir CG and OnTheAir Video

Transcription

1 OnTheAir CG (OTACG) and OnTheAir Video Express (OTAVE) are two very different Softron products that are used to overlay text and graphics onto a live video source. Elements as diverse as still logos, clocks, graphics and tickers even tickers with animated graphics are displayed over this video of the New York, New York Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA using OnTheAir CG. Softron s OnTheAir CG is a typical CG or Character Generator. It is used primarily to overlay text or character information. Text is rendered in real-time as it is overlaid onto the incoming video stream. The application itself is used to create a number of elements that can be positioned, repositioned, changed, and transitioned. OTACG allows the user to create and control a number of elements from within the application itself; other elements can be created with 3 rd party applications and are imported into OTACG projects. The text used to generate the characters overlaid onto video can be created as individual elements in OTACG projects. Larger text strings that are used to output a ticker are stored in folders that OTAVCG reads and renders on the fly. Internet RSS feeds can be linked to folders so that information downloaded from the Internet can be automatically overlaid onto video sources. Scripts can be used to control OTACG from different applications. Page 1 of 6

2 Softron s OnTheAir Video Express is used to output video clips, motion graphics, and/or stills. Still images and 2D or 3D animated graphics created in other applications and rendered with an alpha channel (ARGB) can be used by OTAVE playlists to prepare for playout overlaying the clips on top of a video source. OTAVE will essentially play out to air any clip that QuickTime is capable of playing. Clips or stills with an alpha channel will allow live video to appear in the area of the clip where the alpha channel is completely transparent. Notice how even the thumbnail of the clip shows the alpha channel either for the QuickTime movie or the Photoshop still image. On its own, OTAVE has no graphics creation capabilities. It is a playlist manager. It outputs clips that are put into the playlist. It can play the clips in sequence or interactively. Generally, third party applications such as Adobe s After Effects or Apple s Motion are used to create the clips that are used for output. Page 2 of 6

3 A lower third project created with Apple s Motion application uses an alpha channel with multiple animated titles that come together to make an animated clip. Many templates come with the application and are very simple to modify. Using Adobe s Photoshop, the graphics designer builds a lower third with multiple layers of text and graphics with an alpha channel. Saved in a psd format, the still can be placed into an OTAVE playlist and can be set to play for a desired length of time. Although the two applications are used in the same environments, the way they use the media they are designed to work with is entirely different. Selecting the correct application for your use means that you have to carefully analyze what your actual needs are. You need to know whether you will be primarily updating textual information or if will you be interactively overlaying graphics onto incoming video. As explained above, where OnTheAir CG is used primarily for text and/or moving text, OnTheAir Video Express is used for graphics or motion graphics video or rendered QuickTime or AVI movies. And whereas OnTheAir CG has some simulated motion graphics capabilities in that it uses sequential graphic files to play animations, it cannot be effectively used to overlay longer, more complex video clips onto video. This is because when you output an animation, all of the (single) images that OnTheAir CG will output are preloaded (prebuffered) into memory. For example, although a single lower third with an alpha channel that was created in Photoshop can be brought into an OTACG project and can be output for any length of time, loading multiple full screen stills with alpha channels would use too much memory to allow the playback without stalling. Why? One must remember that when a user creates a lower third title in Photoshop or similar application, when it is saved at the full resolution, (either 720 x 576 or 720 x 486 for SD or 1920 x 1080 or 1280 x 720 for HD) the size per frame is quite large. Converting a single HD 1080 frame to a sequence that would play out for 10 seconds at would require GB more than most graphic buffers can handle. Many people would like to output a Motion or AE project as a sequence of consecutive frames in order to load them into OTACG. But the same problem occurs that happen when replicating a single frame. The frames are so large and numerous that one runs the risk of having more media than can be loaded into the system s useable memory. Page 3 of 6

4 So Softron created OTAVE. It is better suited to play out QuickTime clips with alpha channels. OTAVE is designed to do on thing and one thing only to play out media that you have already created using a third party application. OTAVE reads the media file from hard disk storage and outputs the file through the video card. If the card has a key output, it will use the cards internal or external keying capabilities to output the overlay as desired. With the exception of controlling how the media is played out, OTAVE is passive with reference to the type of media it plays the clip as it finds it. If the clip is a video clip without an alpha channel, it plays the video clip; if the clip is a video clip with an alpha channel, and with the card s keying capabilities turned on as the K selected at the top of the playlist, the clips will play out using the key channel(s.) If the clip is a still, OTAVE will play the still for a selected length of time. (The default is ten seconds, but this can be extended or shortened.) OnTheAir Video Express Preferences settings allow the user to select internal or external key channel. Selecting the K in the Playback Controls outputs the clip with the Key channel. OnTheAir Video Express allows the duration to be set for single frames play out The default value is 10 seconds. OnTheAir Video Express is designed for interactive use. The operator can select the items to play either from a playlist with the mouse or he can use the programmable built in GPI commands with a Softron GPICommander and a GPI device. However, unlike OnTheAir CG, OnTheAir Video Express is not AppleScriptable. It cannot be linked to from other applications nor can it be controlled from other applications via AppleScripts. Page 4 of 6

5 The Preferences window of OnTheAir Video Express allows the user access to program the Softron GPICommander in order to move throughout and play out from the OnTheAir Video playlist. In short, if your intent is to use some sophisticated computer generated graphics and output those as overlays onto live incoming video streams, OnTheAir CG is the application that will most probably fit your requirement. However, if you want to create tickers or tickers with animated bugs (or logos) OnTheAir CG is the tool you will require. CG applications generally support static text on top of video, crawls moving across video or animated bugs on top of video. A nice feature of OnTheAir CG is that you can do all three in a single crawl. The graphic depicts the OnTheAir CG Preview window as it plays a weather related crawl to the system monitor. The crawl will be output to the videocard by being overlaid onto the video that comes into the videocard from a video source. The crawl pictured is composed of a light blue semi-transparent ribbon (a shape in OnTheAir CG vernacular) and a Ticker. Tickers can be any length. Tickers contents are the text files that are found inside of a folder linked to the ticker at the tickers creation. Softron supplies a utility for OnTheAir CG called OnTheAir CG Control. This utility allows the user to quickly create the manual content for tickers. It can also be used to automatically read RSS feeds from the Internet and deposit the text from the feed directly into the appropriate folder associated with the Ticker. In the example above, the File name is entered as Marketing Information. The text that will be created for Marketing Information is entered in the area designated for manual content. Upon clicking OK, the text file will be created in the folder and if OnTheAir Server is running will immediately be displayed on output. Page 5 of 6

6 By clicking RSS Feed Content radio button you are indicating that the process will be automated and that the data to be displayed on output will come from the RSS Feed URL that you will enter in the RSS feed content. By selecting From in the Dates area instead of Always, you establish the length of time that you will read RSS feeds for this Ticker. By selecting Every and the number of Minutes or Hours under Scheduling, you establish a schedule that will read the RSS feed. A number of Softron s customers inadvertently believe that the appropriate application for them to use is the opposite of the one that they actually should. Oftentimes users believe that the CG is more appropriate for overlaying computer graphics - only later to discover that OTACG is not what they really need because their need is not to overlay text, but to overlay QuickTime clips or single frame lower thirds onto live video. Still others believe that there is no way to get the Mac to link to Internet RSS feeds to overlay up to the minute information onto their regular video programming. All of these capabilities exist in two different Softron applications. While they can work together, generally there is no need to because the one use becomes the predominant use and that is how the system configuration stays. Unfortunately, Softron does not create a single application that renders computer graphics for overlay onto live video in real-time. Such applications do exist are available on other platforms at the cost of several times the price of an entire Mac / Softron equipped solution. Page 6 of 6