Using Viz Anchor on iPad

Overview

Viz Anchor has been designed to fit into an existing Vizrt production workflow; however, you may find that some of the components are not present in your current system. The pieces of the setup that may differ from your setup are the Viz Anchor application, Preview Server and Pilot Data Server.

Workflow

Viz Anchor's workflow is essentially no different from the known Vizrt graphics workflow. It is rather a means of moving the control of the graphics out of the control room, giving the presenter full freedom to tell the story as he or she likes.

Installation

Installing Viz Anchor

The Viz Anchor application for iPad is available as a free download in the Apple App Store. To access it, open the 'App Store' application on the iPad. You'll need to register if you do not already have an account.

1. Once the application is set up, locate the 'Search' tab at the bottom of the screen and input search 'Viz Anchor'.
2. Select the Viz Anchor search result and an information screen is presented.
3. Tap the 'Free' button, and then the resulting 'Install' button to start the installation.
4. Confirm your Apple ID to proceed with the installation. The application then downloads and installs.
5. When finished, an application called 'Viz Anchor' is present.
6. Start it by tapping its green icon.

Note: Alternatively you can download the application using iTunes and synchronize/upload it to the iPad.

Working with Viz Anchor

Prior to working with Viz Anchor as a presenter Viz Anchor should be configured by your control room operator or someone who is familiar with Vizrt’s control application(s). Once the operator has prepared the playlist for use it is ready to be used.

To playout the playlist

1. Start Viz Anchor
2. Optional: if the playlist is not selected, see how To select a playlist
3. Optional: if the playlist is not updated, see how To refresh the playlist
4. Select an element, and tap the Takebutton
   • Take: Animates the graphics on air
5. Tap the Continuebutton
   • Continue: Continues the animation on air. Either the graphics will animate out or continue to a new stop/pause point. Both cases depends on the scene’s design
6. Optional: Tap the Continue Reverse button
   • Continue Reverse: Plays back the animation to the previous continue point. Will only work on a director named Default
7. Repeat steps 3-4
8. If audio is enabled you will receive audible feedback for each command

To refresh the playlist

• When in Playlist mode, tap the action menu button (upper right), and from the appearing menu select Refresh Playlist
  • This will request an updated playlist from the Viz Media Sequencer Engine and updated thumbnails from the Preview Server

To select a playlist

1. Start Viz Anchor
2. Tap the action menu (upper right), and from the appearing menu select Browse Playlists
3. Browse for and tap to select a new playlist
4. This will load the new playlist

To disable or enable the playlist buttons

• When in Playlist mode, tap the action menu button (upper right), and from the appearing menu select Disableor Enable Buttons
  • Disable Buttons will deactivate the action buttons preventing the presenter from taking graphics on or off air. Navigation and preview will work as normal. This state is indicated in the playlist’s top bar (depicted above)
  • Enable Buttons will activate the action buttons enabling the presenter to take graphics on or off air

To assign actions to the playlist buttons

1. Start Viz Anchor
2. Tap the action menu button (upper right), and from the appearing menu select Button Configuration
3. Tap one of the six buttons on the side and assign one of the available actions from the appearing context menu:
   • No button: Disables the command for the selected button
   • Take: Takes the selected graphics on air
   • Continue: Continues the animation of the selected on air graphics to another state
   • Take Out: Takes out the selected graphics resulting in a hard cut (no out animation)
   • Continue Reverse: Plays back the animation to the previous continue point. This is helpful in those cases where you want to go back to a previous point in a presentation
4. Tap Go back to playlist to return to Playout mode

Reporting Problems

Viz Anchor is able to report problems directly to Vizrt’s Customer Relationship Management system as an e-mail to case.

When reading log messages you will always have the option of sending this to Vizrt support. You can send all logs of the day, or a specific log message. Note that if Viz Anchor itself crashes, the log message/entry will be colored in red.

Content of the Report

The report should contain information about the following topics;

Problem description (as detailed as possible), logs, software and hardware, setup, graphics and network.

• Problem description: Include a good description of what the problem is and how to reproduce it. Please use simple English.
• Logs: Add relevant logs. This is essential for tracking down things and ruling out problems.
• Software and Hardware: The log file contains information about your iPad, Viz Anchor application, Viz Media Sequencer Engine, Preview Server and (if used) Pilot Data Server. This point should also note information about other systems that are used: newsroom systems, render engines (and hardware, if it is a standard PC or has SDI), and control applications (e.g. Viz Content Pilot or Viz Trio).
• Setup: Describe differences in the installation, if any, from the recommended setup.
• Graphics: Note information about scenes that work and do not work, and add information about what has been tested (for example if key is ok or not). If there are specific issues regarding graphics it is recommended to report this afterwards by attaching an archive of your scenes to the support case.
• Network: Add a description of how the network, bandwidth, routers, and switches are configured.

To report a problem

1. Configure your iPad’s e-mail application
2. Start Viz Anchor
3. Select System Configuration from the action menu (upper right)
4. Select Report Problems from the action menu (upper right)
5. Either: Tap Mail today’s logs to Vizrt
6. Or: Select a specific log entry and tap Mail log to Vizrt
7. Fill in the Content of the Report
8. Tap Send