Automation of lower third - easiest way?

MiniMattersEL · April 11, 2021, 2:52pm

My mind is full after a couple of hours of working on this–as yours must have been as well. I’ve been trying to copy over my lower thirds and formatting into your tvshow. I’ve got the lower third for person A working, though still need to tweak the layout a bit and it takes a bit too long to come in and then comes in a second time later if on too long. How can I limit it to once per toggle?

Another issue is that on the “ALL” setting, I copied in my gradient background and even added it to the layer set. You can see it live just under the split screen in this screenshot.

Yet it won’t appear in the program output. However, my client logo (the square burgundy bug in the upper left) will appear using the same method of just copying the layer. into the model show you made. Thoughts on why this would be missing but not the logo? That is confusing to me. I would also like to eliminate the group Lower Third, as won’t need that. I think this is going to take some more hard thinking, but if you’ve got any simple answers to the above for a start, that would be helpful…We record on Thursday, so hoping to have adjusted by then (or just go with manual…) Thank you. By the way, Barbara had asked if you use PayPal so that we can send you some thank you payment. Otherwise, we’ll find another way.

JoPhi · April 11, 2021, 4:00pm

To have it once, just activate the script at the on Live section, insread of the “while live” section.

With sleep($seconds) you can implement further or less delay. If the LT animation takes too long, you can modify the layer settings for the in-transition. (text delay and other options).

If you want to deactivate the Lower Third for the group, just do not include the command for the group. In my example, it’s the first one.

Script solutions are solutions, which are depending on a certain document. A copy from this to another document could not work. API-IDs are different.

If you want to change positions (on the fly), you have to use a different setup for your document. (see demo for Barbara).

If you want to switch the signet or a background too, you have to add lines to do so. layerOn(), layerOff(). Include commands for it everywhere, you want to auto switch. Alternatively, you can include or exclude the signet at the layer sets. This could be easier.

Btw, my demo for you was created in less than 8 minutes, please don’t worry. Thank you for your support. I already sent my details together with the demo download link to Barbara (and in cc to you.).

You could change your scripts to this:

wait some time
switch off logo
turn on lower third
wait some time (e.g. 6 seconds, because the Lower Thirds need 6 seconds
turn on logo again

Add more “sleeps” between these steps if necessary.

A pity, but scripting isn’t just copy and paste. It will help to write down, what the script should exactly do. Some scripts can be redundant, except of one or two - here a line related to a special lower third - lines. That’s typical.

MiniMattersEL · April 12, 2021, 2:09am

Did it!!! (with one minor issue–I think) Auto Lower Thirds Almost There - minimatters
With your latest help, this now does exactly what I wanted - being able to get the lower thirds to come on automatically when I switch to a solo speaker in the split screen, yet also allowing me to move from one speaker to the other or back to the 4-person split screen. And without both having to manage both the change of speakers and lower thirds. I have to focus on many things, so this will help take a few things out of the equation and make for a consistent look that will apply to many projects! Thank you so much for helping me get to this point and adapt what you created. My final issue, I think, is just getting the lower thirds to come on sooner. I’d really like them to come on right away, particularly as people will be speaking very briefly in the planned project. As you can see, the A lower third doesn’t come in until about :28 into the recording. I only have a 1 second sleep at the end of the end of the Lower Third Automation script. (// add additional seconds to make it not soooooo strict
sleep(1). Ideas on how to get the lower third to act faster? Could retaining the ALL Splitscreen script be an issue? Again, thank you. There’s lots of potential here, but also a steep learning curve initially for a non-programmer.

JoPhi · April 12, 2021, 6:16am

#woooohoooo!
A script for mimoLive is similar to the script for the director of photography and/or the editor and their assistants and/or … . Yes, there is lots to think about, but once it’s written, this magic happens on point. So, for shows of any budget, the persons who work for the show, can focus their capabilities to/on live situations, instead of constantly checking a real tough/complex paper script.

But how often should the LTs be shown while fullscreen on a special person? If it’s once per their state in full screen, why don’t you simply do this?

(on Live)

Variant A:

switch to Solo Person A
wait 6 seconds
activate lower thirds for Person A

Repeat this for all Variants (But keep in mind, that there are two actions different for Person B).

Notice:
The ALL-Option is simply switching all Solos off. Also these, which are not currently in solo-mode. It’s some kind of “in case”-off-switching. It could make also sense to switch the layer itself on, in case of it’s off.

activate SplitScreen
deactivate all Solos

By the way, this seminar could be interesting for you:

Finally, you could manage, that before a change, the LT is being shown a second time, the script waits 10 seconds and then it switches to the next person. But this needs some extra logic to tell mimoLive, which person should be switched next, after a total amount of 10 seconds.

Now you know exactly what I noticed by claiming “there is only a more or less complex way”.

MiniMattersEL · April 12, 2021, 9:58pm

Just wanted to say hi. I tried to make some changes and messed things up a bit. And it’s been a busy day. I will try again this evening or tomorrow morning.

MiniMattersEL · April 13, 2021, 1:08am

Got it. I had done a Save As and messed things up. But I see what you meant now about everything being tied to the particular show. Thanks for mentioning that - only caught it when having problems and going back to reread. Latest version to speed up the lower thirds coming on…I have now used the “Copy URL to Switch on” in the split screens for Persons A-D to switch on each variation of the split screen, and Copy URL to Trigger Button on top of the Show All button for the 4-person view on my split screen. And I made the lower third variants just live within each layer set, selecting the variant of choice. Quicker Lower Thirds ScreenFlow - minimatters

I do think I’m getting this AT LAST! THX.

JoPhi · April 13, 2021, 4:32am

After the split screen script for Vicky, you could add this:

sleep(6)
layerOn(LowerThirdsAPI)

Then you can exclude it from the layer set and the LT is being started time shifted by 6 seconds. If it works, you could do it for the other LTs too.

MiniMattersEL · April 13, 2021, 1:18pm

Johannes, Now that I understand more, I was able to make this change quite easily on the first try! I ended up adding just 2 seconds to each, as my speakers are only speaking for a short time. Thank you. I think I will start to be able to use the scripting proactively moving forward and also help Barbara.

JoPhi · April 13, 2021, 1:41pm

#yeah! Thats great! Congratulations for your first success in being a programmer, without being a programmer!