Motion Lower Thirds

[RadarGaming]

In a few weeks I plan to update the lower thirds for my podcast On The Radar. I am using Wirecast on a pretty beefy machine and a would like to use motion lower thirds instead of normal .PNG's. Has anyone else tried using the motion lower thirds in Wirecast and what was the result?

Thanks

[MovieBuff]

I tried about 2 years ago. It worked fine. I created animated lower thirds in After Effects (AE) and exported it as a Quicktime file. (Lossless + alpha, if I remember correctly. It did no lag.) If you need help with this setting, let me know. I'll try to provide screen captured images of the AE settings and final image on Wirecast.

[oscarmartz]

I have never tried it or seen anyone use it with Wirecast. Does anyone here have examples of it?

[MovieBuff]

I have never tried it or seen anyone use it with Wirecast. Does anyone here have examples of it?

I would post a link, but I am on a bus (can't access YouTube). I am pretty sure Stephen from TheTechBuzz posted a video about animated lower third videos. Try to find it on YouTube.

[jamesdelfresco]

Been wondering about the same thing.

[LAJDigital]

For animated lower thirds I've found that transparent quicktime files work extremely well. Just make sure to make sure the video doesnt loop and put wither a hold or remove action on the end action of the file. Here is a test video from a live event i did a few weeks ago here. ignore the video quality, im still working on the best video settings.

[andrewzarian]

Would love to see some examples. We have been considering it also

[LAJDigital]

Okay, I will apologise in advance for the length of this post, But I am going to try and explain my design process for animated lower thirds. Now I don't profess to be an expert in this but I will try my best for you.

The first thing I work on is a concept of how my longer third will look. This is normally mocked up in photo shop and then shown to the client. In this case I am currently designing a lower third for MMA event called “Cage Soldiers” they are wanting live editing to the event and maybe live streaming and Video on Demand.


So the first thing I do after recreating or obtaining the logo I start working with basic shapes until I get a design which I think will work for the event and for the style of the promotion.

In this case I decided on a more chunky design as you can see below. It is a good idea to have a constant feel over the lower thirds. I find it helpful and it means that all the graphics feel like they belong there.



As you can see I fill the design as far as I can within safety zones it's better to have a design you can shrink or move left to right than having to redesign or extend the design after you have done the bulk of animation.

After I get the approval of the client I start doing my template work in After Effects.
If I am in a hurry I use the mockup as my actual design or if they have some extra time I rebuild the mockup in after effects. You can use either way to do the design that you feel comfortable with.

After I get a base design and animation in after effects I render a test animation and send that to my client to get final animation approval. I find that having the client approve each major step along the way to save more time in the long run.

Here is the video that the client gets

After the animation test is approved I then build the rest of my templates off that animation, so in this case there are round markers and timers, Name Banners and other various lower thirds that are needed

Then i normaly export the file in media encoder, using a quicktime transparent setting, make sure its set to 32 bit depth, that renders out the alpha channel that you need. now the outputed files dont play propery in VLC but check them in wirecast or another program that can handle alpha channels just to check.

Something important about these animations. For final export I use a layered approach to the product. First layer has the event logo which everything slides out from.

for the following 2 layers i dont have the logo on the renders, it means that theres no chance of a shadowing effect. The second layer is the Name slide outs and third layer is the round counters, it means that there is not as much file repetition in the layer windows. Esp when you have so many fighters and round counters, anything that helps you keep a good track of the files helps.



Before you record live PLEASE make sure that every file runs the way you want it to beforehand so go to the settings and make sure it does what you want. Save, reopen and then recheck. Nothing more annoying than running a event and something dosnt work due to a checkbox not being checked.


during the live record the above prep and testing saves a lot of time. if you have any questions feel free to ask. And i wait for the client to approve the above animation and then to get me the fighter information for the event.