Production Switchers

First off, I apologize if this is common knowledge and I just don't know yet. I'm being reintroduced to the world of live production after a decade of post production experience. Our church has recently embraced animated graphics which the post production editors/animators can easily create (including an alpha channel) and us live directors can throw into Pro Presenter and key on top of our shots. 

After thinking about it for a while, I've really wanted our live production to have more options and flexibility when it comes to transitions. I have used the basic wipes and dissolves, and we've looked into media wipes. However, I was wondering if there is a way to build a luma matte or chroma key matte transition video file in after effects and either load it into the switcher to have custom wipes and dissolves or use it as a chroma key to reveal graphics on top of shots or reveal new shots entirely. 

So, in After Effects I would use white on black and luma matte shots with that. One shot would show up when black is on screen, then transition to the second shot wherever white is introduced. This same process would work using a solid color and an alpha channel if I wanted to chroma key. That would allow us to create one transition with (for instance) custom paint brush wipes to reveal a graphic on top of a shot. Or reveal a whole new shot altogether. The second shot would just be transitioned on by revealing white. 

So, is there a way to load a custom video file to use as a transition in the switcher? Or is there a way to play a chroma key/alpha channel video and use that to transition in a keyed graphic? 

This would take the burden of creating every custom animation to reveal every graphic from our post production team, and allow our live production team to help carry that burden.

Thanks for any help you can offer!

Media Wipes use an Animation Sequence (usually created in applications like After Effects) The sequence of TGA or PNG frames will contain the Video and Alpha channels and thus allow you to perform these wipes.

Ross U has lot's of Content:

https://www.rossvideo.com/knowledge-center/ross-university/

A bit of an oldie but this one covers media wipes..

https://www.rossvideo.com/gallery/using-media-stores/

And again another one but on Graphite (note they operate the same so always good to look at Graphite videos as well)

https://www.rossvideo.com/gallery/using-mediawipes/

Make sure you follow the file name convention, the Dashboard help file has the info, but IIRC it's name-001.png   What got me first time was the numbering, it needs to be 3 numbers (again, IIRC).

<x-zendesk-user data-user-name="Les O'Reilly">372649803811</x-zendesk-user> From what I've read and watched, media wipes are content that appears on screen and needs to cover the whole screen at some point. I feel confident we could get those working, but I know that we probably don't want to use that kind of thing for our events and broadcasts. 

My question deals more with creating a template that reveals content and then finding a way to put that template into the switcher as a custom transition, or using it as a key to reveal something. 

Here's a simple example: 

https://youtu.be/L6E21FGs4v8

However, as we have new graphics created for every series, and sometimes weekly, I would want to create not just shapes to transition on things, but also custom patterns that match our current looks. Sort of like this example:

https://youtu.be/eYDsNwFiDQY

https://www.storyblocks.com/video/stock/video-luma-matte-transitions-pack-vol-11-266-rrne8r8-nnjrlle3mc

And if it is not possible, is that something that Ross would ever consider implementing into their software/equipment? I feel like using luma matte templates would offer endless wipes and reveals instead of our basic shapes and angles. 

Unless I misunderstand, what you're trying to do can be done via a split key, using a media store animation as the key source for a different fill.  For even more eye candy, add another layer with a slightly different key/wipe animation, and layer that on top to add some more bling instead of just the custom wipe.  

Thanks For Replying Bob...

I just finished up watching the videos he linked to -- And was going to be my recommendation as well :)...

This is definite a Split Key type of effect....  Video in a Key takes in the Media store sequence that is "fill only" but obviously your fill is basically a Matte (or what the alpha channel would look like if you had a Media wipe will video in the fill and the matte in the alpha channel of it...).  When you build the effect you would be putting the Video source into the Video(fill) of the keyer and then putting that channel of Media Store as the Alpha channel of the keyer.  You may or may not need to do an invert Key -- all depends on which way the White to Black goes.....But effecting on I would expect Black to start so it is transparent and then it would run the frame to White so that the video is now Full.  Then you change the source and cut the keyer off.

Bob also had my other thing I was going to point to which is "3 channel" wipes... Where it is a Media Wipe with Video and Alpha and then another Alpha channel that you split to the video that will common next...  

Les

Thank you <x-zendesk-user data-user-name="Bob Woodhead">397295940992</x-zendesk-user> and <x-zendesk-user data-user-name="Les O'Reilly">372649803811</x-zendesk-user> for mentioning those methods! Being newer to the live side of things, I'll have to dive back into how to tackle that. But now I've got a specific road map. I really appreciate you both taking the time to help with this. I'm definitely hoping to add a little more options to our services and events. 

Hi Curtis. You could record all the steps into a custom so you only have to press one button to do it too.

<x-zendesk-user data-user-name="James Hope">370454363752</x-zendesk-user> Yeah, that's the plan! Thank you for the reminder.