Using the Virtual Set Pack with Trinity/Globecaster.

1) Nomenclature
2) Single Angle Operation
3) Multiangle Operation
4) Background Composites
5) Mix and Match

1) Nomenclature
Each Folder in the Virtual Set Pack contains all the files for that particular set. The folder should begin with A01.TFS, you should read this Angle 01 Trinity FrameStore, this is a background file which when loaded gets put in a Framestore on the Preview Bus. The next file should be A01a.tfx, this should be read Angle 01 DVE a Trinity FX file. When double clicked this loads into the first DSK. These two files when used in conjunction with a keyed video source make a virtual set. In situations where there are TVs or screens behind the talent there are two additional files, A01tvdve.tfx and A01tvkey.tfs which load into the FX and DSK buses respectively. When used in conjunction with a framestore create a background composite which lets you take an image from the preview bus and scale it into the tvs in the set.  

2) Single Angle Operation
Activate your key source (the input that has the camera aimed at your blue/greenscreen), by clicking on that input in the Key Bus. Now your key source is keyed over whatever is in the program bus, however we might not have a good key yet. Click on the little black square above the tbar next to the word Key, this will open the chromakey panel. Adjust the Hue to the single color that removes the most background from the scene, usually near 220 for green and 330 for blue. Next adjust the width to remove all the color, the Low Sat to bring back things not saturated that you don't want to key, then softness to make the key look better. Click this panel via the x in the upper right corner. Open a folder in the Virtual Set Pack and double click A01.tfs and A01a.tfx. Activate the Lock button by clicking Lock between Cut and Mix or hitting the del key. Now hit Spacebar, this will take the input from your key bus and scale it into the set using the A01a.tfx effect which can make the chromakeyed talent appear behind desks and have reflections and refraction. Since you tied a Cut to the Auto (what the lock function does) when you hit the spacebar you also cut the Program and Preview busses which brought the framestore A01.TFS from preview to program. These three elements working together give the illusion of a virtual set that has real depth to it.  

3) Multiangle Operation
To change to a new angle of the virtual set double click A02.tfs and A02a.tfx, now when you hit spacebar you are firing off the new effect A02a.tfx and cutting the program and preview bus again so that the new background (a02.tfs) is behind the key. Now we didn't actually change camera inputs with that transition, and we don't have to neccesarily because the new DVE scales the talent accordingly. But if you wanted to go from a wide shot to a close up you would need to change camera inputs, which is pretty easy. Make sure the Toggle Key button is highlighted and just choose that camera in the KeyP row (Key Preview), now when you cut to that angle the new effect fires off, the program and preview change, and so does the key input, so you are changing all three elements of the set simultaneously. To change back and forth between these two angles now all you have to do is double click the effect that corresponds to the angle you are going to because the framestore is already loaded in the preview bus. If you have seven cameras instead of one or two you just change the softkeys (everything from the right of input 8) to read FS1, FS2, FS3 and so on (making new FS is easy, just rightclick on the input and choose Create Framestore). Now if you want to go to any one of these seven inputs (which have their corresponding virtual set loaded in the framestore) you would only need to choose Key Preview 4 and FS 4 in the preview bus, or KP 2 and FS 2, and so on.

4) Background Composites
For your convenience extra effects to composite images into the background have been provided in many sets where there are TVs and Screens in the background. This could also be done in Animator Compositor or Photoshop, but it's much quicker this way. Find a folder with TVs in the background and Doubleclick A01tvdve.tfx and A01tvkey.tfs. You can turn them on individually or both at once by clicking the green box beneath where they loaded or making sure both FX and DSK (next to Mix) are highlighted yellow and kitting auto (make sure lock is off). These two effects when run scale whatever is in the preview bus into the TVs, this is useful for if you want to do something like a slide show behind your talent. To grab a freeze frame you will need to set up your composite and then click Out in the program bus, otherwise you will see some recursive nonsense instead of your image (this is not an issue if you have two warp engines). And then hit Freeze or Snap and drag your framegrab into the bin with your virtual sets. You can then substitute the backgrounds (A01.tfs for example) with the image you created by dragging it from the bin onto the active Framestore in the program bus (which will replace the image on the fly).

 

 

5) Mixing and matching
Many DVEs are designed for specific angles of specific sets, but some effects angles are pretty generic. If the scale of a particular DVE from a particular set does not work for you sometimes it's okay to go grab one from another set or another angle from the same set and use that instead.

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