Virtual Sets in Wirecast Tutorial
 
Setting up the Virtual Set

When installing the set for Wirecast 6.0.5 and later with xml support for our Wirecast version of the virtual sets make sure the virtual sets are located in:

Mac : /Library/Application Support/Wirecast/VirtualSets
WIN: C:\Users\Public\Documents\Wirecast\VirtualSets

 

We are going to create a virtual set using footage on your hard drive.
Start Wirecast and begin setting up our virtual set shot by clickfig 01ing the add media shot button and choosing Add Video Shot. Navigate to your Chromakey Footage, select it, and click Open.

Your footage will now appear in your shot list. Right click on it and choose Edit Shot which will bring up a new window, this is where we will build the virtual set.


A Virtual Set is comprised of two or more layers, an example would be a desk, your keyed talent, a background, and a screen. You can have multiple screens in Wirecast, they can be material from your hard drive or from feeds. For this demo we will be using clips from your hard drive.

Fig 02Before we start adding in new layers let's deal with our Chroma Key footage. The Attributes bar deals with how our footage is arranged in the shot, it's here that we will Chroma Key, Crop, and later size our talent. From left to right the Attributes panels are Change Media, Visual Effects, Cropping, Titles, Chroma Key, Build In/Out, and settings. Let's start with Chroma Key.

Fig 03 Setting up the Chroma Key
Check the Use Chroma Key box to turn Keying on. Next, check pick key color with mouse and click on the most media color in your shot. Slide the Key threshold up until all of your greenscreen is gone. Fig 04You should be able to use the Black and White clip to bring back any parts of your talent that might have gotten removed by the Key threshold. This may leave you with some areas of your studio still to be dealt with, which is where the cropping panel comes in to play.


Fig 06Cropping Panel
The cropping panel is pretty straightforward, you should be able to adjust the sliders to remove any remaining parts of your studio or other undesirable elements like improperly keyed areas. Fig 05

Importing Layers
Now that we have our talent chroma keyed we are going to bring in some virtual set layers.
1) Under Sources click the +, select the created layer ([no media])
2) Select Files
3) Click the +
4) Choose Add PictureFig 07

Configuring Layers
Fig 08For this we will be using Studio 159 angle 9 Mattes A and B as well as the nonmatte version. The A matte is the desk and the B matte is the background with holes for putting in content
Add both A and B matte to the sources and arrange them so that the A matte (Desk) is above the Chromakey talent and B matte (bg) is below using the up and down arrows.Fig 09
At this point you should have your talent standing behind the desk and a lot of checkered white areas denoting places you can put video, pictures, or feeds. You may also notice that your talent is out of proportion with the shot. Let's fix that, click your Chromakey footage and then the Configure Visual Effects tab. fig 10Likely the presets won't work for you here, but using the key combinations to move the talent around in the window and scale it you can probably get what you are looking for:
Left Mouse Button click and hold in the Preview to move
Alt + LMB to scale.
CTRL + LMB to rotate.

Adding Screens
Fig 11 Now let's add a screen to this shot. Repeat the 4 steps to import a clip/still or just use something already in your media folder. This layer is going to go on the bottom and be sized using the Configure Visual Effects tab. You may also need to crop or rotate footage to get it to fit correctly into some screens.

You can also add in IP Cameras, Scoreboards, and titles.

Lastly, you may find that there are more screens to fill than you have time, patience, or even material to fill. We can import the straight unmatted version for the bottom layer which will fill the screens with whatever the set had in them.

Wirecast Virtual Set
Virtual Set



 

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