Release 1.6 now available!

Full list of changes and updates to RECEKEEN Virtual Studio systems made

Watch a short video presenting the most exciting features of the Release 1.6

Multi-Camera feature

This feature allows you for a multiple-camera mode of production allows you to set up up to 4 cameras pointing into the same direction from different angles. It is especially useful during interviews, talk-shows, and other scenarios where there is a need for more than one camera setup in one place. That way it’s possible to capture close-up shots as well as a wider, master shot, and establish the geography of the virtual studio.

This feature is completely trackless, and the execution of the effect is achieved by intelligently placing the virtual cameras in the correct positions in a 3D studio.

Depth of field for the Multi-Camera feature

Depth of field is the distance between the nearest and the farthest objects that are in acceptably sharp focus. This feature allows for a blurred background, when a camera close-up is focused on a person. By adjusting the intensity of the blur of the background, making the scene and image more realistic-looking.

New Input Settings

  • New Input Settings
    • Rotation
    • Pan/Tilt/Zoom
    • Horizontal/Vertical Flip
    • Correction (brightness/contrast/saturation/hue)
  • CAM 1-4 inputs available to use with any media files together with chroma/luma key support

Now, instead of cameras or NDI connections, use any media file as an input. This way, a pre-recorded talent on a green screen can be used in your production, without the need to use an external device to play the file back.
This feature also provides you with an extension to a traditional use of chroma key. Use this feature, for example, for slideshow presentations – by adding a green colour as a background to a slideshow, you can create a very advanced-looking presentation in the virtual studio – such background can be removed using chroma key, leaving only content of the presentation, such as graphics and text, visible in a virtual set.

Stream Deck Mobile

Stream Deck Mobile – control slideshow presentations, as well as ANY commands in the system during productions in the RECKEEN Virtual Studio system, by using an app on your mobile device – Stream Deck Mobile. That way, a single person can fully operate a production, while, at the same time, being a presenter.

Slideshow Controller

Slideshow Controller – Incorporated triggers for slideshows, teleprompters, documents, and more, within the RECKEEN’s application. The receiver application is needed for a device that is being used to open the file. Reckeen Slideshow Controller can be downloaded for free here.

New FBX importer

New FBX importer – a new way of uploading FBX files to a virtual studio.

3D Editor button added to the V/C panel

3D Editor button added to the V/C panel – a shortcut to open 3D Editor directly from the V/C panel.

3D Editor button added to the V/C panel

3D Editor button added to the V/C panel – a shortcut to open 3D Editor directly from the V/C panel.

COM port selection for VKey-100

– COM port selection for VKey-100 – Vkey-100 control panel can now be connected to the PC using a USB port

Added content, available for download

  • Content:
    • New Media files – a new bundle of videos
    • Talents – new videos with talents, that can be used as examples for the product showcases
    • Sample slideshow presentations – those ready slideshows can be used to showcase various features in the system, such as slideshow presentation as a DSK layer, controlling slideshow presentations directly from Reckeen’s application, controlling slideshow presentation through Stream Deck mobile app, and more.
    • Demo Videos – new videos showing examples of use of new features, such as Smartkey, Multi Camera, Slideshow control triggers, etc.
    • 8 new scenographies
  • Demo sessions – 9 fully prepared virtual studio sessions for demo purposes. (More sessions will continue being added on a regular basis):
    • All media files, talents, animations, and more, have been set up and pre-saved in a virtual space, and are ready-to-go whenever you need them.
    • All of the settings, such as chroma key, have been adjusted, and the triggers programmed, therefore the sessions do not require any modification before using, and allow quick and easy navigation in the studios.

Detailed description of new demo content

Triggers: It is necessary to wait until a trigger has completed all of the assigned actions to be able to switch to a different trigger. If you’re using VKey-100 control panel – as long as the trigger button is lit up in red, the action is being performed. Wait until the trigger button’s light goes out to perform the next action.

Detect Position: Remember to press “Detect Position” at the beginning of the session for any talent that is visible in whole (together with their feet), as this function places a talent and its shadow in a correct position. To do that click on a gear symbol visible in an appropriate CAM input window, then, in a newly open window, click “Detect Position”. This action is unnecessary for any talents that are visible only partially, for example from waist up, or standing/sitting behind a desk, because the shadow is not visible with that talent placement.

  1. On your RECKEEN’s PC, follow the link: RECKEEN 1.6 content update
  2. Select all files (easy way: while pressing caps lock and shift simultaneously, click on the first and last file in the folder – it will highlight all of the files in the folder).
  3. Choose the option to download the files as ZIP (Note: the files are large, therefore the process of downloading will take a while).
  4. Once downloaded, open the .exe file provided, and install the installer. Follow the instructions on the screen.
  5. The installer will automatically add new content to the correct folders on the computer.

In this folder you can find all of the demo session for demonstrational purposes. Each one already includes uploaded media files – together with talents, videos, images, news tickers, etc. Additionally, chroma key, is also set up in the best possible way, taking into consideration lightening conditions in a specific studio (that might differ from one demo session to another).

Other settings, such as camera shots, have been designed as well. Each session contains an assigned set of triggers to ease up presentation process. Below, you can find a description of all of the triggers for each session.

All you need to do is to choose a desired session and open it. Everything else has been taken care of. Hopefully this new addition to the system will help to ease up your work.

In this folder you can find saved chroma key settings for the video files of talents from the folder “Chroma Key”.

They have been set up in a neutral way, therefore depending on the conditions in a chosen studio, adjustments to the key, such as saturation or contrast, might be necessary to make. You can do that by going to Post Correction tab in a Chroma key window, for a relevant CAM input.

This session presents the Multi Camera feature. It includes 3 talents, recorded from 4 different shots on a green screen. Files with camera recordings are placed as inputs CAM 1 to CAM 4.

Triggers:

  • F-1 – Positioning of the Virtual Camera 1 (VC1)
  • F-2 – Change of the VC1 position
  • F-3 – Switching to Virtual Camera 3 (VC3)
    • close-up of talent number 1 – Adrianna,
    • Crawler (news ticker) appears.
  • F-4 – Transition to a different VC3 shot of the talent (Adrianna)– camera’s micromovement
  • F-5 – Switching to Virtual Camera 2 (VC2)
    • close-up of talent number 2 and 3 – Nikos and Cezary
    • Crawler appears
  • F-6 – Transition to a different VC2 shot of the talents (Nikos and Cezary) – camera’s micromovement
  • F-7 – Switching to Virtual Camera 4 (VC4)
    • close-up of talent number 3 – Nikos
    • Crawler appears
  • F-8 – Transition to a different VC4 shot of the talent (Nikos) – camera’s micromovement
  • F-9
    • First press: Changing the media at the virtual monitors to a talent (reporter in NYC)
    • Second press: Changing the media at the virtual monitors to previous images
  • F-10 – Switching to VC1 – transition to a zoom-out view of all talents.

This session presents the Multi Camera feature. It includes 3 talents, recorded from 4 different shots on a green screen. Files with camera recordings are placed as inputs CAM 1 to CAM 4.

Triggers:

  • F-1
    • First press: Positioning of the Virtual Camera 1 (VC1),
    • Second press: Animation of Reckeen’s logo appears
  • F-2 – Change of the VC1 position
  • F-3 – Switching to Virtual Camera 4 (VC4)
    • close-up of talent number 1 – Adrianna,
    • Crawler (news ticker) appears.
  • F-4 – Transition to a different VC4 shot of the talent (Adrianna)– camera’s micromovement
  • F-5 – Switching to Virtual Camera 2 (VC2)
    • close-up of talent number 2 and 3 – Nikos and Cezary
    • Crawler appears
  • F-6 – Transition to a different VC2 shot of the talents (Nikos and Cezary) – camera’s micromovement
  • F-7 – Switching to Virtual Camera 3 (VC3)
    • close-up of talent number 3 – Nikos
    • Crawler appears
  • F-8 – Transition to a different VC3 shot of the talent (Nikos) – camera’s micromovement
  • F-9 – Switching to VC1 – transition to a zoom-out view of all talents.
  • F-10
    • First press: Changing the media at the virtual monitors to a talent (reporter in NYC)
    • Second press: Changing the media at the virtual monitors to previous images

This session presents the quality of chroma key in RECKEEN products. (Note: there are 2 session files available – one in 1080p and the other in 4K p29.97)

Triggers:

  • F-1 – Consecutive presses trigger transitions to different camera shots. There are 8 shots.

When a talent, who’s sitting behind the desk is on a large zoom, the background image can be changed in order to see talent’s hair better. The background can be changed by clicking on the files in Media Tray, tab 2. There are 3 files uploaded in that tab.

This session presents the quality of materials and textures used in Reckeen’s products. Reckeen uses PBR technique, therefore our imitations of materials such as wood, metal, plastic, stone, fabrics, and more, look very realistically. Even at big close-ups the textures preserve its immaculate quality. Reckeen has over 300 different materials in its library, each available in a broad colour palette.

Triggers:

  • F-1 – Consecutive presses trigger transitions to different camera shots. There are 8 shots.

You can also use shots of VC1 saved in the VC1 tab by clicking on them.

This session presents how animations in the Reckeen system work. Presented animation is an election poll. Consecutive polls appear after pressing the appropriate trigger button.

Triggers:

  • F-1
    • First press: Positioning of a camera shot, news crawl appears, animated object appears (the base for the election poll – without bars)
    • Second press: Animation of bars on an election poll appears
    • Third press: Animation and news crawl disappear.
  • F-2
    • First press: Change of the camera shot; news crawl appears.
    • Second press: News crawl disappears.
  • F-3 – Change of the camera shot.

This session presents animations associated with weather forecast.

Triggers:

  • F-1
    • First press: Change of a camera shot; a map of the USA appears.
    • Second press: Animation of the map – symbols with suns and clouds appear
    • Third press: Close-up at Alaska on the map
    • Fourth press: Close up at the Florida area
    • Fifth press: Zoom-out showing the full map
    • Sixth press: The map and the symbols disappear; change of the camera shot
    • Seventh press: Camera’s position comes back to an initial shot.

This session presents how SMARTKEY feature works, and how it can be applied.

SMARTKEY integrates a result from the chroma keying with a chosen video clip or still graphics, generating that way a talent/or image, on a new background. Thanks to this feature, we can obtain four new media streams – called SMARTKEY channels, which can be placed directly inside RECKEEN 3D virtual studio, or sent to external SDI outputs.

SMARTKEY feature can be turned on in the first tab of Chroma Key window. To turn it on tick “Enable SmartKey” box. By also ticking “Show in preview”, the preview window in that CAM input will change – green background will disappear, and instead a chosen media will show. To choose media for SmartKey background go to the “File” window.

Triggers:

  • F-1
    • First press: Positioning of Virtual Camera 1 (VC1) on a wide shot
    • Next press: Change of VC1 position to a view with 4 virtual monitors
    • Next press: Change of VC1 position to a view of virtual monitor A
    • Next press: Change of VC1 position to a view of virtual monitor B
    • Next press: Change of VC1 position to a view of virtual monitor C
    • Next press: Change of VC1 position to a view of virtual monitor D
    • Next press: Change of VC1 position to another view of virtual monitor D
    • Next press: Change of VC1 position; animation – a big screen appears
    • Next press: Change of VC1 position to a big screen close-up
    • Next press: Animation – the big screen rotates
    • Next press: Change of VC1 position to a view with 4 virtual monitors and the Big screen
    • Next press: Positioning of Virtual Camera 1 (VC1) on a wide shot
    • Next press: Animation – the big screen disappears

This session presents different kinds of 3D objects’ animations, such as virtual monitors, a trophy cup, a race map, and a Formula 1 car.

Triggers:

  • F-1 – Positioning of Virtual Camera 1 (VC1)
  • F-2 – Change of VC1 position
  • F-3
    • First press: Animation – a race map moves from the monitor to a position in a virtual set
    • Second press: Animation – the map goes back to a virtual screen (if not pressed, next trigger F-4 will generate a more impressive camera movement)
  • F-4 – Change of a camera VC1 shot – camera moving through the animation of a race map
  • F-5
    • First pres: Change of VC1 position – a view of a platform; Animation – a trophy cup appears and starts rotating
    • Second press: Animation – the trophy cup disappears
  • F-6 – Change of VC1 position – a view of talent number 2
  • F-7
    • First press: Animation – a virtual monitor number 1 changes position
    • Second press: Animation – the virtual monitor number 1 goes back to its initial position.
  • F-8
    • First press: Animation – a virtual monitor number 2 changes position
    • Second press: Animation – the virtual monitor number 2 goes back to its initial position.
  • F-9
    • First press: Animation – a virtual monitor number 3 changes position
    • Second press: Animation – the virtual monitor number 3 goes back to its initial position.
  • F-10
    • First press: Change of VC1 position; Animation – a desk appears in the set
    • Second press: Animation – the desk disappears

That session presents a feature of displaying slideshow presentations in the RECKEEN system, and navigating them directly from the inside of Reckeen’s application, or by using an app called Stream Deck Mobile, which allows a presenter to control the slideshows on their own.

Additionally, in this session you can find a comparison of keying quality of a Full HD file of a talent, that has been filmed vertically, and then rotated by 90 degrees in Reckeen’s application, with a 4K file filmed horizontally, that has not been rotated.

NOTE: To fully benefit from that session, it will require extra steps to be taken outside, as well as inside of RECKEEN’s application. All steps are described below, and they concern slideshow presentations; to showcase quality of keying, no extra steps are required – the talents are automatically included in the set when loading the session.

Slideshow presentations:

This session should include 2 slideshow presentations connected to inputs via NDI or HDMI. 2 sample slideshow presentations intended to be used in this session are included in this session’s folder.

Presentation called “Sample presentation – RECKEEN products & features” should be added as a Media input, and displayed on a virtual screen in the studio. The other one, “RECKEEN – Sample Presentation – About Reckeen” should be added as a CAM input and used in a full screen mode, by placing it on a DSK layer (Downstream key). This kind of slideshow must be prepared on a green background in an external application of your choice – similarly to the sample presentation included in this session’s folder. Such presentation will then go through chroma keying in the Reckeen system, and that will result in removing the green background, leaving only content of the presentation visible on the full screen (if it’s placed as a DSK layer).

We recommend watching a video showing execution of such presentation. It can be found in a Tab 1 in Media Tray of this session, or alternatively in the folder where this session is saved at.

Steps enabling to control the slideshows directly from RECKEEN’s application:

  1. Install a free software “Reckeen Slideshow Controller” on your device from which a slideshow presentation is going to be played from. You can download the software from the folder on the server, or from our website: https://www.reckeen.com/reckeen-keen-on-record/downloads/
  2. Run “Reckeen Slideshow Controller” on your device.
  3. All devices used to perform the activities described below should be connected to the same Local Area Network (LAN).
  4. Go to the trigger window on Reckeen’s application, press “Find” button and click on IP address of your device with a slideshow presentation on.
  5. Use trigger buttons F1 and F2 to go to next (F1) or previous (F2) slide or animation on your slideshow.

To use another presentation simultaneously in RECKEEN’s system, you need a separate device with a presentation on it. Repeat steps 1-4. Use trigger buttons F3 and F4 to go to next (F1) or previous (F2) slide or animation on your slideshow.

Triggers can be used through VKey-100 control panel, or a computer keyboard.

To control the slideshow through a mobile device, follow these steps:

  1. Install app called “Stream Deck Mobile” on your mobile device (Note: this app is only available in App Store). And on Reckeen’s PC install “Stream Deck for Windows”, available on www.elgato.com
  2. Open “Stream Deck” application on the PC, run Reckeen’s virtual studio application.
  3. Using HotKey in the Stream Deck’s window assign triggers used for your presentations, i.e. F1, F2, F3, F4. For more help on how to assign HotKeys watch the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MLi–03l2M
  4. Open “Stream Deck Mobile” and configure the settings under manufacturer’s instructions. Information can be found on their website: www.elgato.com

Important note: Using Stream Deck we can trigger any commands on Reckeen’s system, that have been assigned to trigger buttons. That way a single person can operate a full production, while at the same time being a presenter.

A comparison of keying quality of a Full HD file of a talent, that has been rotated by 90 degrees, with a 4K file that has not been rotated:

  • In this session you can find 3 uploaded files on CAM inputs: on CAM 1 – a talent in 1080p59.94 resolution, on CAM 2 – a talent in 4K resolution, on CAM 3 a talent in 1080p59.94 resolution, that has been filmed vertically with a camera, and then the file has been rotated by 90 degrees I Reckeen’s application.
  • By switching between virtual cameras VC1, VC2 and VC3, we can compare the quality of keying between the files.
  • We can see that thanks to filming the talent vertically, the quality of the rotated FullHD file is nearly as good as the quality of the 4K file that has been filmed in a standard way. Filming vertically allows more effective use of a filming area by filling more space in the camera’s view with a talent itself, which results in a better file quality.