GlobeCaster Macro Manager Documentation

GlobeCaster Macro Manager

Introduction
Mockup panel
Make Macro panel
Command Descriptions

Introduction

The GlobeCaster Macro Manager is a utility application used to construct the commands for each macro. These commands are made of different action types (e.g., Select Bus Source, Load File), and each type of command may have a different number of parameters. The user may construct the command list using the menu system on the Make Macro panel or use the Record Macro button and perform the steps that the macro should perform (or use a combination of both).

Figure 1: The main interface for GlobeCaster Macro Manager (in standard mode)

Mockup panel

General description
Additional Mix Buttons
Effect Length Number Editboxes
Emulation dropdown buttons
Softmap buttons
Wait for Completion button
Mixer Mode button
Toggle Panel buttons

General description

The Mockup panel (the top left panel in Figure 1) is based on the appearance of the CS-100. A few other buttons have been added to simplify the macro construction process, and will be described below. There are five video bus rows on the left, a T-bar in the center, and action buttons on the right. The T-bar has no functionality and is only present as a reference. The action buttons are normally disabled; they are only active in Record Macro Mode. The 16 buttons in each bus row are normally used to select a macro index; in Record Macro Mode, they are used to select a bus source (see Figure 3).

Additional Mix Buttons

The Fade Mix and Aux Mix buttons near the bottom of the panel are only available in Record Macro Mode. They are available so that the user can easily record a Fade Mix or Aux Mix action without having to resort to the menu system.

Effect Length Number Editboxes

There are five Effect Length Number Editboxes:

Dissolve length (above the Mix action button)
Effect length (above the FX action button)
Fade length (above the Fade action button)
FadeMix length (to the right of the FadeMix button)
AuxMix length (to the right of the AuxMix button)

These editboxes are available so, while in Record Macro Mode, the user can edit the length in order to add a Set Length command to the appropriate effect. Note that setting the Effect length may be ignored if the current effect is not scaleable.

Emulation dropdown buttons

The five buttons on the far left will, upon being pressed, popup a menu (as shown in Figure 1a) that allows the user to emulate a video bus or clear the macros that have already been specified in the corresponding row. This was added so that the user can set the video bus row macros to have the normal bus selection operation without having to edit every single macro. For instance, if the user wants the fourth bus row to remain Program, simply click on its Emulation button and select "Emulate Program Bus". These buttons are disabled in Record Macro Mode. If the button has a "***" label, it signifies that it is unknown whether the macros emulate a bus row or not. (Note that in Figure 1, rows four and five are emulating the Program and Preview rows, respectively.)

Figure 1a: The main interface for GlobeCaster Macro Manager (in standard mode)

Soft Map buttons

The three Soft Map buttons are only enabled in Record Macro Mode. They are used to specify how the "softbuttons" (the last seven buttons to the right of the input buttons in a bus row) are labeled for purposes of selecting a bus source in Record Macro Mode. That is, they allow the user to select whatever source exists on that button, or to select a specific source. The mapping of the three buttons are as follows:

Soft Map 1: "Sft1" through "Sft7".
Selecting one of these simply selects whatever source is currently loaded on the softbutton (if any)
Soft Map 2: Out, Mat1, Mat2, FS1, FS2, FS3, FS4.
The user may select Program Out, a specific matte, or one of four specific Framestores
Soft Map 3: TM1, TM2, CM1, CM2, FS1, FS2, FS3.
The user may select a specific TM Clip, a specific ClipMem, or one of three specific Framestores (as in Figure 3)

Click on the Configure button to bring up the Configure Panel popup menu and select a Configure Panel (e.g., Serial Devices or Global Settings). This will generate a Toggle (Configure) Panel command in the command list.

Click on the Panels button to bring up the Switcher Panel popup menu and select a Switcher Panel (e.g., Serial Devices or Global Settings). This will generate a Toggle (Switcher) Panel command in the command list.

Additionally, the user may right-click on the FX or DSK buttons and select the Toggle Properties Panel item. This will generate a Toggle (Effect Properties) Panel command in the command list for that particular FX or DSK.

Make Macro panel

General Description
Menu System
Command List & Editing
Record Macro Mode
Picon Control

General Description

The Make Macro panel (the right panel in Figure 1) is used to create the command list via a simple menu/editing system. Simply select a macro index by selecting a button in the Mockup panel or enter the index into the Macro Index number editbox. Then start editing the command list by adding new commands or by removing existing commands. When the user is done editing, the user may save the command list by clicking on the Save Now button. Choosing a different macro index or simply deselecting the current macro (toggle off the macro button or click in the number editbox) will pop up a dialog box prompting the user to save the current list of commands. Assuming the command list's syntax is valid, the command list will be saved.

If the syntax of the command list is bad, the first command that is invalid is selected and a short error message is listed in the Status editbox below the Command List. (The user may right-click on the editbox to show the entire message.) The user may then click on the Remove Selected button to remove the invalid command and try saving again. If there are multiple syntax errors, the user may find it easier to revert to the old command list and start again; the user simply has to click on the Revert to Old List button.

At the top right of the panel, there are three application buttons: Help (?), Minimize (_), & Close (X). Below those buttons is the Picon Control that is discussed in more detail below.

Menu System

There are four parts to the menu system: the Action Type popup menu button and up to three parameters (which may also be popup menus or a numberbox). The type of parameters depends on the action type, and not all three parameters are always required, so some of the buttons may temporarily disappear. The resulting command is written into the Command editbox. (The user may right-click on the editbox to show the entire command.)

The Load Command action is a special case: the second parameter represents the name of the file to load. The user must traverse the bins and find the file to be loaded; simply double-click the file to set it as the second parameter. The name of the file is shown in the Parameter 2 button. Left-clicking on the button will show the entire file name (with path).

Command List & Editing

The Command List listbox contains all of the commands in the order the commands should be performed. (If a command is not entirely visible, the user may right-click on the command in the listbox to show the entire command.) The user may select only one item in the command list at a time. This is used for inserting or removing a command as described below. Figure 2 has an example command list created with the menu system that uses SelectBusSource, Load, Effect, & Group commands.

Figure 2: Example command list created with the menu system

There are four buttons that allows the user to edit the command list:

Add To End: Adds the command in the Command editbox to the end of the list
Insert Before Selected: Inserts the command in the Command editbox into the list before the currently selected (checked) command
Remove Selected: Removes the selected command from the command list
Remove All: Removes all commands from the command list

There are two other ways to edit the Command List. First, the user can click on the Revert to Old List button to replace the current command list with the old command list. Second, the user can be in Record Macro Mode and perform actions; new commands are always added to the end of the command list.

It should be noted that if the user right-clicks on a command, the user can select it to change the menu buttons to match the command. This allows the user the chance to make a quick change to the command.

Record Macro Mode

To enable Record Macro Mode, click on the Record Macro button. When the button has been pressed, the Mockup panel will change its appearance so that the user can record the macro commands (see Figure 3). Now the user can simply perform the actions that the macro should perform (such as selecting a bus source or performing a Cut or Auto action), and every action will be recorded and added to the command list.

While in Record Macro Mode, double-clicking on a file in the bins will add a Load File command (assuming the file is recognized). Furthermore, the user can drag-drop files onto a softbutton in order to load the file (assuming it is valid) to the appropriate video source (see Figure 3). For instance, double-clicking on a Framestore file (TFS) will add a Load(FS,...) command which will load a Framestore to an available Framestore source; however, dragging-and-dropping a file onto the softbutton FS3 will add a Load(FS3,...) command, which loads the Framestore to the third Framestore.

When in Record Macro Mode, the Record Macro button will change its text to Stop Recording. To exit Record Macro Mode, simply click on the button again. The Mockup panel will return to its normal state, and the button will changes its text back to Record Macro.

Figure 3: Creating a Load command via dragging a Framestore picon from the bin onto a softbutton while in Record Macro Mode

Picon Control

All of the macros are saved in the default macro settings file. The Picon Control at the top right of the Make Macro panel allows the user the opportunity to save the macros to another file, or to edit the macros of a separate file. In order to save the macros to a different file, simply drag the picon and drop it into the bin. In order to load a macro file, simply find the file in the bin, drag it from the bin, and drop it on to the picon. (The Status editbox should alert the user when the macro file has been saved or loaded.)

Furthermore, there is a right-click menu. Simply right-click the picon to open up the menu. The first menu item indicates which macro file is being edited. If a macro file other than the default is being edited, then there are two additional menu items (as shown in Figure 4). Make default file will set the current file being edited as the default file. Load default file will load the default file.

Figure 4: The Picon Control's Right-Click Menu

When using the Switcher application, the macros are specified by the default macro file. However, the user may use a different macro file by double-clicking on the macro file to load it. Note that this does NOT change the default macro file. When the user closes down Switcher and runs it again, the macros are once again specified by the default macro file. In order to change the default macro file, you must use the GC Macro Manager application.

Command Descriptions

Each command consists of an action type and its parameters. The action types are listed below, along with a description of their parameters.
Select Bus Source
Action Command
Effect Command
Set Length Command
Load Command
Timeline Command
Set T-bar
Group Command
VTR Panel Command
Set Mixer Mode Command
Toggle Panel Command

Select Bus Source

Select Bus Source allows the user to select a specified video source on a specified video bus. There are two parameters

Video Bus
May be one of the following: Program, Preview, Key, Key Preview, Aux.
Video Source
The video source may be Program Out, Matte Black, one of the video inputs, or a specified Matte, Framestore, TM Clip, or ClipMem. The video source may also be specified as the source assigned to a specific softbutton.

Action Command

The Action command allows the user to select a specified action, which is the first (and only) parameter. The available actions are: Cut, Auto, Stop, Fade, Fade Out, Fade In, FadeMix, AuxMix, CutLockOn, CutLockOff. (The Fade action toggles between Fade Out and Fade In and is similar to the Fade button on the Switcher panel.)

Effect Command

The Effect command allows the user to select an action for an effect type. There are two parameters:

Effect Type
The available effect types are: Mix, FX, DSK1, DSK2, DSK3, DSK4.
Effect Action Type
The available effect action types are:
- Run/Trigger is the same action as pressing Auto with only the specified effect's mode on
- Stop/Cancel is the same action as pressing Stop with only the specified effect's mode on
- Toggle Run/Stop will toggle the running state: an effect that is running will be stopped, and an effect that is not playing will be run
- Mode On turns the effect's mode on
- Mode Off turns the effect's mode off
- Toggle Mode toggles the effect's mode on or off

Set Length Command

The Set Length command allows the user to specify the length of an effect's duration or fade value. There are three parameters:

Effect Type
The available effect types are: Mix, FX, DSK1, DSK2, DSK3, DSK4. Also available are Fade, FadeMix, and AuxMix, but only their duration can be set.
Length Type
The available length types are: Duration, Fade In, Fade Out
Length (a number)

It should be noted that there are certain combinations of parameters are not allowed here. For instance, a DSK's Duration can not be set. Also, an effect duration must be greater than 0.

Load Command

The Load command loads an effect file, video source file, or timeline. It has two parameters:

Load File Type
The available Load File Types are: Timeline, FX, DSK1, DSK2, DSK3, DSK4, Mat1, Mat2, FS1, FS2, FS3, FS4, TM1, TM2, CM1, CM2.
Load Type There are two types available:
- Asynchronous Load: Continue processing the following macro commands as the file is loaded
- Wait For Completion: Do not process the following macro commands until the file is loaded
File Name
Double-click on a file in the bins to specify the file name.

Note that no verification of the file is done.

Timeline Command

The Timeline command allows the user to specify an action that affects the timeline. There is usually one parameter (Timeline Action Type) which may be one of the following: Play, Pause, Reset, Position. If the Timeline Action Type is Position, the 2nd parameter (the position timecode) appears and must be specified.

Set T-bar

The Set T-bar command allows the user to specify the position of the T-bar. There are two parameters:

Position Type There are two types available:
- By Step: Position value represents the step/field of the effect(s) being T-barred
- By Percent: Position value represents the progress (as a %) of the effect(s) being T-barred
Position value

Group Command

The Group command is a way to group commands together that need to be synchronized or performed only when a previous command was successful. The first (and only) parameter is a Group Type and may be one of the following: Synch Start, Synch Stop, Success Start, Success Stop. A Synch Start command must be eventually followed by a Synch Stop command. Similarly, a Success Start command must be eventually followed by a Success Stop command. Synch commands can not be nested within another, and Success commands can not be nested within another. Currently, only Select Bus Source commands can be placed inside a Synch Start/Synch Stop group. A simple example of using these commands follows.

Example 1: Bus source selection synchronized to occur on the same field.

Group(Synch Start)
SelBusSrc(Program,FS1)
SelBusSrc(Preview,FS2)
SelBusSrc(KeyPreview,FS3)
SelBusSrc(Key,FS4)
Group(Synch Stop)

Example 2: Testing for success of the previous operation before performing the next operation.
Figure 2 has an example command list where the success of loading an effect is tested before it is triggered.

VTR Panel Command

The VTR Panel command is a way to emulate the button presses on the VTR Panel in the Switcher application. There is only one parameter, the VTR Action Type, which may be one of the following:

Record TMClip: Same as clicking on record button with TimeMachine selected
Stop Recording TMClip: Same as clicking on stop button while recording a clip
New TMClip: Same as clicking on New Clip
Save TMClip: Same as clicking on Save
Load/Play Last TMClip: Loads the previous TimeMachine clip that was recorded (if it exists) and starts playing it

Set Mixer Mode Command

The Set Mixer Mode command lets the user specify the mixer mode for Chroma, Luma, or External Alpha keying. There is only one parameter, the mixer mode, which may be one of the following: Off, Normal, Mix, Add, Luma, Ext Alpha.

Toggle Panel Command

The Toggle Panel command allows the user to toggle a type of panel on or off. There are two parameters:

Panel Type
The available panel types are: Configure Panel, Switcher Panel, Effect Properties Panel.
Panel Name
This parameter depends on the Panel Type. Here is the list of Panel Names that are available for each Panel Type.
- Configure Panel: Digitize Settings, Installed Cards, Keyer Settings, Framestore Settings, Color Correction, Pro Color Correction, GPI Settings, Serial Devices, Input Settings, Advanced Input Settings, Output Settings, Global Settings
- Switcher Panel: Audio Mixer, Monitors, VTR Transport, Switcher Options, Mixer Preferences, Input Monitors, Camera Settings
- Effect Properties Panel: FX, DSK1, DSK2, DSK3, DSK4