Mix variables - Instant change of contents

Mix variables allow instant changes between pictures, videos and music at any time. The contents are sorted into several parallel tracks, which are allocated to various mix variables. During the presentation you can enable the corresponding mix group, thereby displaying their contents on the screen.  

This tutorial complements the project used for the tutorial Speaker Support with interval music and video loop. The following extension is to be implement:

If you have not yet worked through tutorial Speaker Support with interval music and video loop you should do so now. This tutorial requires the Pro License or higher.  

Creating mix variables and linking them up with tracks

The presenter of a show wants to be able to change over to the map and continue at any time with his show after he has made a few explanatory comments. This is the perfect application for mix variables. Mix variables allow fading over from current contents to parallel contents that were previously not visible on the screen. Telling you how you can do so will be purpose of this tutorial.

Note: The screenshots are based on Wings Vioso but it shouldn’t be any problem to follow and work through the workshop.

  1. First of all, open the project you created during the tutorial Speaker Support with interval music and video loop.

  2. Before you go on you should organize the present tracks into group tracks. Right-click the uppermost track head and select Insert track Group. Double-click the field with the double arrow , enter Show as the name and click OK. Right-click the track head of the marker track and select Insert track Group. Enter Marker as the name for the group track and click OK.

  3. Now add an additional group track and a picture track as follows: Right-click the empty black space below the marker track and select Add tracks... following which a dialog box will appear. Next to Picture tracks enter 1 and check the box next to Group tracks. After clicking OK both new tracks are shown. Change the name of the new group track from Pictures to Map.

  4. Duplicate the video track with the background video by right-clicking the track head and selecting Duplicate track. Now grab the new video track with the mouse and drag it to the very bottom. You may have to use the vertical scroll bar to change the timeline portion.

  5. The new tracks are used for fading in the maps via mix variables. In order to structure the timeline more clearly, hide all the tracks belonging to the actual show. Right-click a free area in the tracks to deselect all objects. Following this you click on button of group track Show for all the tracks to be hidden. Following this your timeline, except for the two objects, should look as displayed below.

  1. In order to make it look exactly as displayed above, move the video object with the background image to the right until its beginning is located at 0:12.0 s (i.e. behind the map at the beginning of the show). Right-click the video object and select Change duration. Enter a duration of 1:20 and click on OK.

  2. Now drag the picture file Map of Rügen with alpha channel into the picture track and extend the object as you did with the video. Put the picture track into alpha mode. Move the nodes for both objects to the left to achieve a hard fade-in.

  3. Define two mix variables. One mix variable is to control all the tracks used for fading in the map. A second mix variable is to control the tracks of the actual show. In the Media Pool click on category Variables. Right-click the empty, right Media Pool section and select Variable Value. Name this variable Map. The same way, create a second variable called Show.

  4. Link up the variables with the tracks. Highlight the track accommodating the map object. Grab variable Map at its icon and drag and drop it onto field Mix variable in the Properties Table. Following this the name appears in the track head and the second column Mix is created in the yellow track slider area. Link up the track accommodating the background image likewise with variable Map.

  1. Now link up all the tracks of the actual show with the mix variable Show. For this purpose, unhide the tracks of group track Show by clicking on and link up variable Show as described before. As you may have noticed, no mix variable can be assigned to the asynchronous audio track - it cannot be controlled via mix variables. Therefore, you should disable this track, as it may be played along when the map is played.

  2. Continue by adding the trigger which allows you to fade over to the map. In the Media Pool click on category Trigger. Right-click some free space in the right Media Pool section and select Add trigger. Choose the following General settings:

    1. Name          Map 100

    2. Category    Variables

    3. Action         Fade + Pause ...ensures that playback is paused after fading in the map.

    4. F key            2  ...this is the function key you press to execute the trigger later on.

  3. On the right, under Parameters you make the settings for the type of fade:

  4. Variables    Map       ...click on Select, enable variable Map and click OK.

  5. End value   100 %   ...is the target value for the fade-in.

  6. Time               10      ...for a dissolve time of one second.

If, at the end of all this, the dialog shows the setting below, you can click OK.

  1. Create a second trigger likewise, making the following settings:

  2. Name           Show 0

  3. Category     Variables

  4. Action          Fade and Pause  ...ensures that playback is paused after fading the show.

  5. F key            2  ...this is the function key you press to execute the trigger later on

  6. Variables    Show   

  7. End value    0 %  ...is the target value for the fade-in.

  8. Time               10  ...for a dissolve time of one second

As you may have noticed, the F2 key is used for executing both triggers to fade out the show and fade in the map.

  1. You will now need an additional two triggers to fade out the map and fade in the show. Create these triggers with the following settings:

 

  1. Now there is only the last trigger for fading out the map missing:

  2. Name           Map 0

  3. Category     Variables

  4. Action          Continue + fade ...ensures that the show is continued and faded in

  5. F key             1  ...this is the function key you press to execute the trigger later on

  6. Variables     Map  

  7. End value    0 %  ...is the target value for the fade-out

  8. Time             10     ...stands for a dissolve time of one second

  1. You’ve made it. You can use the F1 key to fade over to the show and the F2 key to fade over to the map. Start playback, followed by pressing F1. At the track beginning the Mix bar will show you which tracks have been faded in and which faded out. Press the F2 key to fade in the map and the Locator will stop. The presenter can now do his explaining for any period of time and return to the show again by pressing the F1 key.

Note: Please note that Mix variables only work during playback. In Editing Mode mix variables do not effect any visible changes.

Creating additional mix variables...

Let's assume that you would like to have the option of fading in the additional text National Park in the map. This can be done via the text function and an additional mix variable.

  1. Right-click the track head of the picture track below the group track Map and select Insert track Picture. Right-click the new picture track and select Insert Text Object...

  2. Start playback and press F2 to fade in the map. Double-click the text object info line to open up the Properties Dialog. In field Text enter National Park and choose bold font, e.g. Arial Black. For Alignment choose right-aligned followed by clicking OK.

  3. Right-click the text object and select Change duration. Enter 1:20 for New duration and click on OK. Align the text object until it is in the same location as the map and the background image.

  4. In the Media Pool Variables create a new variable Value Out named Text and link it up with the picture track accommodating the text object.

  5. Create two triggers for the new mix variable. You can duplicate and modify triggers - this saves time. To do so, right-click trigger Map 100 and select Add trigger. Make the following modifications:

  6. Name            Text 100

  7. Variables      Text

For the second trigger right-click Map 0 and select Add trigger. Make the following modifications:

  1. Since there is a limit to execution via function keys as only one function key can be assigned to a trigger we are going to use the Control Panel for execution. In the left bottom corner of the program window click Control Panel and drag trigger Text 100 from the Media Pool and drop it into the Control Panel. Following this a control panel field will be created. Now drag trigger Map 100 and Show 0 one after other and drop onto the control panel field while holding down the Ctrl key. Following this a trigger list will be created.

  2. Right-click the control panel field and select Field Properties. Enter Map+Text for the name and close the dialog by clicking OK.

  1. Create a new control panel field likewise by dragging and dropping trigger Show 100 into the Control Panel. Following this drag and drop trigger Map 0 and Text 0 onto the new control panel field while holding down the Ctrl key. Name the control panel field Show.

  2. When you start the presentation the show is run and you can call up the map without additional text by pressing F2 and the map showing National Park by clicking the button in the control panel field Map+Text. If only the map is displayed, you can fade in the text National Park by clicking the control panel field Map+Text and fade back to the show  by pressing F1 or hitting control panel field Show.

The trigger lists of the control panel fields now allow you to combine any triggers. As trigger execution of the control panel fields is also possible via remote control, the mix variable function can also be executed via serial command, MIDI or DMX, etc.

The following topics are also available:

Executing triggers

Visual effects

Presenting with mix groups

Remotely controlling Wings Vioso RX