NewTek TriCaster Mini HD-4 Manual
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NewTek TriCaster Mini HD-4 Manual

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Ready. Set. Go make your show.
Your guide to creating your first video program with

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Summary of Contents for NewTek TriCaster Mini HD-4

  • Page 1 Ready. Set. Go make your show. Your guide to creating your first video program with...

  • Page 2: Table Of Contents

    TriCaster Mini Go Make Your Show Guide Table of Contents Part 1: Ready. 1) Power, Monitoring and Control 2) Bringing in Video and Audio 3) Displaying Video and Hearing Audio 4) Initial Startup and Registration Part 2: Set. 1) Starting a New Production Session 2) Setting Up Your Camcorders 3) Selecting Your Sources 4) Switching Between Sources...

  • Page 3: Part 1: Ready

    TriCaster Mini Go Make Your Show Guide Part 1: Ready. Anyone can create professional-looking, TV-style video fast— and make your ordinary presentation extraordinary—with TriCaster Mini, the most-complete, compact multimedia production solution on the planet. This Go Make Your Show guide, designed just for people working with professional video for the first time, will walk you through all the basics to get you on your way to creating your first program.
  • Page 4 TriCaster Mini Go Make Your Show Guide While most professional video systems can be rather daunting because they’re built for experts, setting up TriCaster Mini is actually pretty simple—not much different from getting a home stereo or video game console up and running.

  • Page 5: Power, Monitoring And Control

    TriCaster Mini Go Make Your Show Guide 1) Power, Monitoring And Control BACK PANEL DRAWING Connect the TriCaster power cable to the DC IN port and plug in Connect the keyboard and mouse using USB ports Connect your DVI computer monitor to the INTERFACE / MULTIVIEW DVI port OPTIONAL: Connect your...

  • Page 6: Bringing In Video And Audio

    TriCaster Mini Go Make Your Show Guide 2) Bringing In Video And Audio FRONT PANEL DRAWING Connect the HDMI cable to the camcorder and plug into TriCaster using VIDEO IN port 1 OPTIONAL: Repeat using VIDEO IN ports 2-4 for each of your other HDMI camcorders OPTIONAL: Plug the microphone into TriCaster...

  • Page 7: Displaying Video And Hearing Audio

    TriCaster Mini Go Make Your Show Guide EXPANDING AUDIO BEYOND ONE MICROPHONE If your program requires more than one on-camera talent, you will need to add a microphone for each person who speaks and plug each microphone into a hardware audio mixer. This will allow you to bring all of the microphones into TriCaster.

  • Page 8: Initial Startup And Registration

    TriCaster Mini Go Make Your Show Guide 4) Initial Startup And Registration What You’ll Need to Register... 1. TriCaster Mini – connected to a local network If you don’t have a network connection for TriCaster Mini, you’ll need access to a Web browser on some other device (computer, tablet, smartphone, etc.) 2.
  • Page 9 Click the button as directed in the dialog box. This will use a device that is to open any Web browser and visit http://register.newtek.com submit your Serial Number and Product ID, and take you to the NewTek Registration site (have your Serial Number and Product ID handy)
  • Page 10 TriCaster Mini Go Make Your Show Guide Create (or log into) your User Account in the NewTek Registration System using a valid e-mail address Select TriCaster Mini from the drop-down menu and click the Register Now button Enter your Serial Number,...
  • Page 11 Enter the Registration code in the Register TriCaster dialog box as directed, then click Continue to complete registration IMPORTANT: Be sure to record your Serial Number, Product ID, Registration Code and NewTek Registration user account login on the included Registration Card (or otherwise save for your records), and store in a safe place.

  • Page 12: Part 2: Set

    TriCaster Mini Go Make Your Show Guide Part 2: Set. You’ve got everything plugged in, connected, registered, and ready to start. Now it’s time to start up the TriCaster software, tell it what to do with those devices, and start creating with them!

  • Page 13: Starting A New Production Session

    TriCaster Mini Go Make Your Show Guide Once you’ve powered on for the first time and registered, you’ll see the Home screen on your monitor. The next time you power on TriCaster Mini (and any time after that), you’ll see this screen. This will be your starting point for every production.
  • Page 14 TriCaster Mini Go Make Your Show Guide You’ll now see the TriCaster user interface on your monitor, which is also called the Live Desktop. Think of it as your palette for creating television! Let’s take a moment to explore the layout to see how the most essential controls are organized.

  • Page 15: Setting Up Your Camcorders

    TriCaster Mini Go Make Your Show Guide 2) Setting Up Your Camcorders Each HDMI camcorder that is on and connected properly will be automatically detected by TriCaster Mini. You should see the live feed(s) in the video windows in the upper left of the screen. Wasn’t that easy? LOOK HERE TO SEE LIVE CAMERA FEEDS.

  • Page 16: Switching Between Sources

    TriCaster Mini Go Make Your Show Guide The first four numbered buttons on each row of the switcher are dedicated to up to four connected cameras. For the next few steps, these are the only video sources you need. Don’t worry—we’ll get to the other sources soon.
  • Page 17 TriCaster Mini Go Make Your Show Guide Now, if you had clicked the Program row 1 button with your mouse instead of TAKE, you would still have made Camera 1 the new, live source on Program. However, people make fewer on-air mistakes when they use TAKE, because they only have to move their mouse around on the Preview row—and they don’t have to worry about hitting the wrong button on Program! Also, if you were to only click buttons on Program, you might be tempted to ignore Preview—but Preview is a...
  • Page 18 TriCaster Mini Go Make Your Show Guide Instead of an instant swap like TAKE, AUTO performs a smooth, timed transition between the two sources (by default, the Fade transition takes a full second to complete). Once the transition is complete, the Program row 2 button should be in and the Preview row 1 button in green.

  • Page 19: Mastering Multi-Camera Production

    TriCaster Mini Go Make Your Show Guide This time, instead of taking a full second to complete, the transition takes the same amount of time you took to pull the T-Bar all the way down. But once again, the Program and Preview sources switch, swapping positions both in the switcher and in the large windows.

  • Page 20: Part 3: Go

    TriCaster Mini Go Make Your Show Guide Part 3: Go. This section is where you learn to make your live program look even more professional by adding multimedia elements like video clips, on-screen text and graphics, and network sources (such as a screenshare, camera roll or Web page) into your production.

  • Page 21: Video Clips

    DDR 1 bin to open the Media Browser On the left side of the Media Browser window, click on NewTek under the Clips section to view the sample clips stored on TriCaster Mini Click on the appropriate thumbnail to select the London Bus.mov video clip...
  • Page 22 TriCaster Mini Go Make Your Show Guide Check the DDR 1 bin to ensure the thumbnail for the London Bus video clip is visible and highlighted, and that it’s cued up in the DDR 1 video window in the upper left LOADING YOUR OWN VIDEO CLIPS While the sample clips stored on TriCaster are great for practicing, when you are ready to make your actual show, you’ll probably want to load your own video clips.
  • Page 23 TriCaster Mini Go Make Your Show Guide PRACTICE SWITCHING MULTIPLE SOURCE TYPES Click the DDR 1 button in the Click the AUTO button to perform Watch the large Program window to Preview row to cue up DDR 1 (you a Fade transition between Camera 1 see what happens should see the same paused image (currently selected on Program)

  • Page 24: Overlays

    GFX bin to open the Media Browser On the left side of the Media Browser window, click on NewTek under the Titles section to view the sample titles stored on TriCaster Mini Click on the first thumbnail to select the title template named Basic 001.cgxml...
  • Page 25 TriCaster Mini Go Make Your Show Guide Check the GFX bin to ensure the thumbnail for the title template is visible and highlighted, and that it appears in the GFX video window in the upper left USING TITLE TEMPLATES TriCaster Mini includes a variety of title templates, from basic text to elaborate full-screen graphics. Explore the other templates at your convenience.
  • Page 26 TriCaster Mini Go Make Your Show Guide APPLYING AN OVERLAY Now, it’s time to layer the title over your Program output. You’ll do this using what’s called a Downstream Key, or DSK. To the far right of the switcher, locate the DSK 1 toolset, which is already set to GFX by default Locate the TAKE and AUTO...
  • Page 27 TriCaster Mini Go Make Your Show Guide Using the large Preview window for visual reference, click and hold the mouse button on the Position control tool, then drag the overlay to a different location When you’re finished positioning your overlay, release the mouse button and click Close to close the Positioning window You’ve just repositioned your overlay—click the DSK 1 AUTO button to check it out! You can follow these same steps to change the size of an overlay.

  • Page 28: Buffers

    Click on the + symbol to open the Media Browser On the left side of the Media Browser window, click on NewTek under the Stills section to view the sample images stored on TriCaster Mini...
  • Page 29 TriCaster Mini Go Make Your Show Guide You have your first buffer loaded (if you want, you can go ahead and load additional buffers by clicking on their individual thumbnails and repeating the steps above). Now, let’s layer the logo over the Program output using DSK 2.
  • Page 30 TriCaster Mini Go Make Your Show Guide Before We Continue… A network connection is required for the remainder of PART 3: GO. If you haven’t already done so, please connect TriCaster Mini to a local network (a Gigabit network is recommended and considered mandatory for an HD session). If you don’t have access to a local network, please skip ahead to the following section, PART 4: TURBO.

  • Page 31: Preparing Network Video Sources

    1. Access to any Web browser—preferably on the PC or Mac you intend to use as a video source 2. A USB thumb drive (optional) To start, you’ll need to download the appropriate version of NewTek’s iVGA client app, which allows TriCaster Mini to identify your computer as a network video source.

  • Page 32: Connecting Network Video Sources

    TriCaster Mini Go Make Your Show Guide IMPORTANT: If there is a policy at your company that prevents you from installing new software on your computer, download and save iVGA to the USB thumb drive. You can run it from there without installing it on your computer.

  • Page 33: Live Streaming Video

    TriCaster Mini Go Make Your Show Guide Apple AirPlay In the TriCaster interface: • Mouse over the NET 1 video window (located in the top-left section of the screen) to reveal the source selection menu • Click the down arrow to open the drop-down list of available network sources •...
  • Page 34 TriCaster Mini Go Make Your Show Guide To setup your live stream, start by opening the Configure Stream Connection panel. Mouse over the Stream button in Click the gear icon to open the Connect to your streaming the top-right corner of the screen to provider and account using the built-in Configure Stream Connection panel reveal the gear icon on the right edge...
  • Page 35 Please refer to the Streaming section of the TriCaster User Guide for further TriCaster instruction, and download NewTek’s whitepaper on How to Stream Live Video Like a Pro for more information about the entire process.

  • Page 36: Part 4: Further

    TriCaster Mini Go Make Your Show Guide Part 4: Further. If you’ve been following along, you’ve already learned to set up TriCaster Mini and use many of its creative tools to produce and stream a television-style video program. Now, it’s time to learn a few cutting-edge techniques that make your productions look massively more sophisticated.

  • Page 37: Mix Effects

    TriCaster Mini Go Make Your Show Guide These next-level steps will introduce you to a section of the Live Desktop we haven’t talked about yet – the Mix Effects panel. 1) Mix Effects When you first start a session, the Mix Effects panel is hidden. To open the Mix Effects panel: Click on the divider bar located above the switcher that is labeled MIX EFFECTS When you click on the divider bar, a second panel appears above the video switcher that looks very similar to the switcher itself.
  • Page 38 TriCaster Mini Go Make Your Show Guide MIX EFFECTS PANEL – EFFECTS MODE The M/E tabs, which you can click through to work with any of TriCaster Mini’s 4 Mix Effects panels. The M/E bus, which includes two rows of buttons – row A and row B. When you click on a video blue gold source, its button will light up...
  • Page 39 TriCaster Mini Go Make Your Show Guide Click on the Program Click on the Preview row row BLACK button M/E 1 button Click on the 2 button Click on the 1 button Check DSK 1 and DSK 2 to If you have an overlay applied, in M/E 1 row B in M/E 1 row A click the DSK 1 or DSK 2 TAKE...
  • Page 40 TriCaster Mini Go Make Your Show Guide Click the TAKE button to To the right of the video switcher, locate the TAKE button beneath the T-Bar instantly cut from BLACK to M/E 1 The Program row M/E 1 button should now be in and the Preview row Black button in green.
  • Page 41 TriCaster Mini Go Make Your Show Guide The 2 button in M/E 1 row A should now be in blue and the 1 button in M/E 1 row A in gold. Not only that, but you should now see the video from Camera 2 in the large Program window (if you have a second camcorder connected).
  • Page 42 TriCaster Mini Go Make Your Show Guide CONFIGURING TRICASTER MINI OUTPUTS CONTINUED Double-click the large Program window to open the Output Configuration panel Locate the connection settings for the output you would like to change Click on the Video field for the output to open the video source selection menu Mouse over and click on a source to select Repeat steps 3 and 4 for the Audio Click Close to close the Output Configuration panel...
  • Page 43 TriCaster Mini Go Make Your Show Guide IMPORTANT: Toggle the mode for the M/E by using the mode selector button. This is the button to the right of the FTB button above the T-Bar. Simply click on the mode selector button to open the drop-down menu, then click on Mix or Effect for the desired mode.

  • Page 44: Keying With Livematte

    TriCaster Mini Go Make Your Show Guide 2) Keying With Livematte TriCaster Mini’s built-in LiveMatte technology is the key – literally – to keying out, or removing, a generic physical background so that your on-screen talent can appear in front of video, photos, graphics, computer displays, slides, and more.
  • Page 45 DDR 2 bin (near the center of the screen) to open the Media Browser On the left side of the Media Browser window, click on NewTek under the Clips section to view the sample clips stored on TriCaster Mini Scroll down and click on...
  • Page 46 TriCaster Mini Go Make Your Show Guide Now, follow these steps to set up M/E 1 for the layered effect: In row A of M/E 1, click on the DDR 2 button In row B of M/E 1, click on the DDR 1 button – if you’ve been following along, you should still have the...
  • Page 47 TriCaster Mini Go Make Your Show Guide While hovering over the green screen area of the DDR 2 video window, release the mouse button and watch what happens in the large Preview window When you release the mouse button, LiveMatte is activated and makes the color you pick (in this case, green) transparent.

  • Page 48: Using Virtual Sets

    + icon to open the Media Browser On the left side of the Media Browser window, click on NewTek under the LiveSets section to view the virtual sets stored on TriCaster Mini Scroll down to the Arena Report...
  • Page 49 TriCaster Mini Go Make Your Show Guide If you check the large Preview window, you should now see Kiki sitting at the desk in the Arena Report virtual set, with the London Bus video clip in the virtual monitor built into the front of the desk. Welcome to your new studio! VIRTUAL CAMERA ZOOM AND SHOT PRESETS Whenever you put an M/E into EFFECTS mode and load a virtual set effect, you have the ability to...
  • Page 50 TriCaster Mini Go Make Your Show Guide VIRTUAL CAMERA ZOOM AND SHOT PRESETS CONTINUED If you look to the right of the T-Bar, you will see a palette of thumbnail images for the virtual set you have loaded. These are your shot presets and you have 8 of them to choose from. If you click on a thumbnail image, the virtual camera will change position to frame the shot as it appears in the thumbnail, either using a smooth animated movement or a straight cut.

  • Page 51: Part 5: Turbo

    TriCaster Mini Go Make Your Show Guide Part 5: Turbo. You’ve made it through some pretty advanced territory. But, we’re not done yet! In the following section, you’ll learn how to record your show (or the individual camera feeds from it) for post-production editing and on-demand viewing; how to publish multimedia content to social media networks like YouTube, Facebook and Twitter –...

  • Page 52: Recording

    TriCaster Mini Go Make Your Show Guide 1) Recording Not every show needs to be live—and not every live show goes perfectly. TriCaster Mini’s built-in recording makes it easy to record your show to air at a later date, post for on-demand viewing, or archive for your video library.
  • Page 53 TriCaster Mini Go Make Your Show Guide ISO RECORDING But that’s just one recording. With TriCaster Mini’s built-in IsoCorder technology, you can isolate, or ISO, up to four different recordings simultaneously. Start by opening the Record Configuration panel. Mouse over the Record button in the top-right corner of the screen to reveal the gear icon on the right edge Click the gear icon to open the...

  • Page 54: Publishing To Social Media

    TriCaster Mini Go Make Your Show Guide TRICASTER MINI AND ISO RECORDING The internal storage configuration varies between the two TriCaster Mini models – the HD-4i and the HD-4. The HD-4i model, which includes the integrated case display, has two internal hard drives that allow for the maximum of four ISO recordings without the use of external storage.
  • Page 55 TriCaster Mini Go Make Your Show Guide At the Session screen, locate the publishing account icons in the top-right corner of the screen (publishing account icons are also available on the Home screen) Click an account icon to open the Account Configuration window Enter your login credentials and grant When you’re finished, click Start Live...
  • Page 56 Add button to open the Media Browser On the left side of the Media Browser window, click on NewTek under the Clips section to view the sample clips stored on TriCaster Mini Click on the appropriate thumbnail to select the London Bus.mov video clip...

  • Page 57: Macro Shortcuts

    TriCaster Mini Go Make Your Show Guide What if you want to publish the same file to different destinations? Easy. Just select the file in the Publish Queue and click Duplicate, then change the Destination setting for the file. Try it with Facebook and YouTube: Click on the Destination field Click on YouTube (it’s okay if Click on the London Bus.mov...
  • Page 58 TriCaster Mini Go Make Your Show Guide IMPORTANT: The time to create macros is not during your show. Practice and execution is what makes amazing macros. So, take the time well ahead of your show to create, test and adjust your macros so that they work exactly how you want them to.
  • Page 59 TriCaster Mini Go Make Your Show Guide Now you are ready to set up a test macro. CREATING A MACRO Locate and click the Macro button in the top-left corner of the screen to open the drop-down menu Click Configure Macros… to open the Macro Configuration Editor window Click the + Macro button in the...
  • Page 60 TriCaster Mini Go Make Your Show Guide In the lower right of the Macro Configuration Editor window, click the Record button Click the Program row 1 button Click the Preview row DDR 1 button Click the AUTO button underneath the T-Bar— the London Bus video clip should now be on Program and playing in the large...
  • Page 61 TriCaster Mini Go Make Your Show Guide Let’s see how you did! Click the Play button in the Macro Configuration Editor window, then watch what happens in the Live Desktop Once you hit the Play button, you should see each step you just performed manually performed by TriCaster automatically –...
  • Page 62 TriCaster Mini Go Make Your Show Guide Press the 1 button on your keyboard’s 10-key number pad—when you press it, note that NumPad 1 appears next to your Test Macro entry Now, when you press the 1 button on the keyboard’s 10-key number pad, TriCaster will execute the macro sequence you just recorded –...
  • Page 63 TriCaster Mini User Guide, which is accessible from the HELP menu of your TriCaster Mini system. Actual hardware and screen displays may vary slightly in appearance. ©2014 NewTek, Inc. TriCaster, TriCaster Mini, 3Play, LightWave, Broadcast Minds, ProTek and TalkShow are trademarks and/or service marks of NewTek, Inc. LightWave 3D is a registered trademark of NewTek.

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