In order to keep all the studio settings (selected sources, virtual camera V/C positions and settings, and others) and be able to use them for the next production, there is a possibility to save them in a session file.To open such saved settings, you have to load an appropriate session file at the start of LITE Production module.
Placement button allows you to change the camera’s position in a currently active phase manually, in a separate window. Controls in the window enable you to change both camera’s position and its zoom. With an additional Defaults button you can restore the default settings.
Camera settings are saved after closing the window. The program retains the settings introduced for a given V/C tray until a new shot or a new studio project is loaded.
For each newly imported studio, phase settings are defined by default – the first phase zoom is set to zero (0%) of the maximum zoom, the second phase 33%, the third 66%, and the fourth 100%.
Remember that the area of the presenter’s possible movement in the studio is the Talent area – limited by a white line.
The AutoPlay feature allows you to animate the camera’s PTZ (Pan, Tilt, Zoom) transition effect. If AutoPlay function is enabled, the camera’s motion is smooth and animated. The time of this transition can be adjusted with up / down arrows placed on the right of the phase previews (Seconds, Frames).
If the AutoPlay button is turned off, the camera changes its position ‘sharply’ (without animation). For the ease of use, three default durations of transitions between phases has been defined – fast (1 second), medium (3 sec), and slow (5 s).
In order to load a selected studio project, choose one of the V/C trays to which a new studio is to be loaded. Press one of V/C buttons on the PVW switcher. You can also select the tray by pressing V/C button on the side bar. The selected button will lit up green.
Then, press Import button in the studio’s configuration panel.
Specify a proper file with *.rec2D extension in the file selection window that opens. After clicking on a file, its set’s preview is displayed in the window on the right.
The file will be loaded into the selected V/C tray. In order to load the consecutive projects or studio shots, the action should be repeated for the subsequent studio shots, choosing a different V/C tray number.
NOTE: For each studio’s set design, you should choose sources A, B, C, D that will be used in the displayed studio.
Such loaded studios are immediately ready to be used, so if you want the studio to appear on the air, you only need to press TAKE button.
With this function, you can set the aspect ratio for sources A, B, C or D, for movie files or for images.
The Keep option allows you to maintain the source’s aspect ratio, while the Stretch option stretches the image to cover the whole desired area. See the following example.
If, for example, a video file with its aspect ratio of 4:3 is placed in a studio on a display, which has an aspect ratio of 16:9, the image file proportions will be maintained and the ‘lacking’ space on the screen will be transparent.
If you select the Stretch option, the image of an aspect ratio of 4:3 will be stretched to 16:9 proportions, and there will be no uncovered space on the display. You have to remember that the stretched picture will not have the previous aspect ratio.
Unlike Reckeen 3D in Reckeen Lite, the setting of sources A, B ,C and D is different for each camera V/C.
The fundamental part of studio configuration is a selection of a source. Usually, a studio project allows you to place there 4 input signals A, B ,C and D that are set on the mixer in an additionally opened panel.
In a studio design, the first two of them, namely A and B, are almost always images of presenters (Talents), from CAM 1 to CAM 4 sources. A keying filter is applied to these sources.
The applied key removes a uniform background (e.g. green), on which the presenter is filmed.
The third and fourth signal source – C and D may be a film or a still image. They are usually displayed on virtual screens that are a part of studio scenography. Everything depends on the project. In the picture, you can see two images of presenters (source A and B) and studio screens, where a film (source C and D) is displayed.
Most often the default A, B , C and D sources were defined by a studio designer, but you go to the VSM Lite Editor and create your own settings, e.g. remove a Talent or add a screen. In each studio, signals can be used in a different way. Due to this flexibility, the signals have been described in a studio configuration panel in a universal way – symbols A, B , C and D.
There are four separate rows of buttons with identical descriptions for sources A, B ,C and D. This enables a separate regulation of parameters for sources A, B , C and D.
The input signal for studio composition can be: a transparency (Off), a camera image (CAM_1, 2,3,4), a video file (Media 1, 2), an image/bitmap (Still 1, 2),
And so are called the buttons located in four rows below the studio previews. The button with selected source is highlighted . Changing the input source takes place immediately, so you can change it during the live broadcast.
After selecting the appropriate signal sources, a figure of a presenter will be displayed against a studio scenography, and a selected video file or a still image will be shown on virtual screens. If a keying filter has not been enabled for the source with a presenter figure, you have to switch it on and set its parameters.
After applying the correct keying parameters, a background against which the presenter is filmed (e.g. green) will be removed and the figure of the presenter will be visible against the background of the studio scenography.
In order to make the figure of the presenter fit better into set design you have used, you can adjust the figure’s size and position in the studio. A separate window is used for changing these parameters. The window can be opened with a button located next to the buttons used for the studio’s signal sources
selection.
This window works on the same principle as the Placement window earlier described in the DSK section. The only exception is an additional function Aspect Ratio: Keep / Stretch described on the following pages of the manual.
After opening a production screen of LITE Production, you will find the virtual studio Configuration Panel in the lower left corner. The Reckeen LITE Studio system will always open a new session with a starting studio loaded.
A studio file’s path on the disk is displayed at the top of the panel.
The Reckeen LITE Studio system is equipped with 4 V/C channels, that is Virtual Cameras. The backlit buttons V/C 1 to V/C 4 on the left side of the configuration panel allow you to choose which group of V/C shots you can currently configure.
The V/C buttons in the panel are fully compatible with the main video mixer. If you change the status of the main mixer (switch the V/C on the mixer), whether it is in PREVIEW (PVW) section or PROGRAM (PGM) section, the button in V/C control panel will switch automatically. V/C tab button is highlighted in red when the virtual camera V/C to which it is assigned, is on the air, that is, in a live signal on the PROGRAM screen. And when the button is highlighted in green, it means the virtual camera V/C image is displayed on the PREVIEW screen.
Each V/C shot of the studio enables definition of virtual camera movements in 4 different phases.
Control panel allows you to define four phases for one virtual camera V/C shot (Phase 1, 2, 3 and 4 previews). The current phase is marked by a highlighted stripe above the preview. Phases can be switched at any time, both when the studio is on the air, and when it is being prepared for broadcast. Clicking on a preview of one of inactive phases switches the view to that phase.
After loading to the control panel a studio’s set design that has several virtual camera shots, the shots will be loaded into V/C 1, V/C 2, V/C 3, and V/C 4 trays. This will correspond to images from 4 virtual cameras in the studio. Switching between the trays allows you to quickly change the virtual camera’s view.
In the Reckeen LITE system, you can also load one studio into the V/C 1 container, which is going to be on the air, and a completely different one into the V/C 2 tray, which we is going to be prepared for broadcast on the PREVIEW screen.
PROGRAM and PREVIEW screens for two different studios loaded into two V/C trays.
