Creating still shots

The creation of still shots enables the collection of visual references that are saved together with a look and associated metadata.

In this article, we will first cover the preparatory steps for capturing stills and then various aspects of collecting stils in Livegrade.

Preparations for creating stills#

Frame grab or video input devices#

In order to capture stills, either a look device which provides frame grabs or a video input device is required for each signal. After connecting the device to your computer, assign the frame grab or the video input device as image source to an input slot via the slot manager.

An overview of all supported devices can be found here: All device integrations.

Record and Media folders#

Media items such as stills are saved in so-called media folders in Livegrade. One of these folders must be selected as the record folder. New stills will be saved in this folder.

You can configure media and record folders in the “Recording” tab of the Livegrade settings (open via main menu Livegrade > [Settings …]).

More information about the media and record folder can be found here: Media folders and record folder.

Clip identifier#

Each shot in Livegrade is identified by its clip identifier. The naming scheme of the clip identifier can be customized very flexibly and according to individual needs.

The clip identifier naming scheme can be set in the “Library” tab of the Livegrade settings (open via main menu Livegrade > [Settings …]).

Clip name#

Each media item in Livegrade is saved with a specific name. This can be a name generated by the system or correspond to the clip identifier.

The clip name can be set in the “Library” tab of the Livegrade settings (open via main menu Livegrade > [Settings …]).

Creating still shots#

In Livegrade, you have the option to create a still shot for a slot individually or as a group.

Individual still creation#

Creating a still shot saves a shot without a reference to another shot.

You can create a still shot

• by pressing the Create Still button within the slot’s view
• via menu items
  • Shot Library > [Create Still for Selected Slot]
  • Shot Library > [Create Still for Slot]
• via Stream Deck und Tangent controller actions
  • [Create Still for Selected Slot]
  • [Create Still for Slot]

Create still for slot

Create stills for group#

Creating stills for several live signals saves a still together with stills made at the same time in other armed slots as a group.

This offers the following advantages:

• Stills of the same take can be loaded into their source slots at once. To do so, just double-click them after the creation has finished.
• Looks of grouped shots can be applied to their source slots with one single action, which is accessible via the contextual menu of a shot: Apply Look of Group to Source Slots.

As this action is intended to collect stills for all live signals at once, Livegrade will always switch to the Live mode of the input slots when triggering this action.

You can create stills for a group

• by pressing the Create Still button in the main toolbar
• via menu items
  • Shot Library > [Create Still for All Armed Slots]
  • Shot Library > [Create Still for All Armed Slots of Stage]
• via Stream Deck und Tangent controller actions
  • [Create Still for All Armed Slots]
  • [Create Still for All Armed Slots of Stage]

Create still for group

Arming#

You can control which camera will be part of the group by “arming” and “unarming” a slot.

Arming controls:

• Which slots will be used for shot creation when triggering [Record Clips for All Armed Slots] or [Create Still for All Armed Slots]
• Which slots will be grouped by their time code. This allows to load them back into the playback mode of their source slots with just one double click, after the stills or clips have been stored.

When working with multiple cameras, make sure that all shooting cameras are armed – and all cameras that won’t roll in the next take are unarmed.

You can arming/unarming a slot

• by pressing the Arm button in the slot’s preview
• via menu
  • Shot Library > Arm Slot > [Arm Slot A for Recording]
• via Stream Deck and Tangent controller actions
  • [Toggle Arming in Slot]

Arm slot

Auto increment options for take and clip#

To make it easier to maintain the slating metadata, Livegrade provides a mechanism to automatically increment the take number after a group still action has happened.

The settings for this mechanism can be found in the “Recording” tab of Livegrade’s settings (open via main menu Livegrade > [Settings …]).

Review a still#

To review a still, you have to load the still shot into a slot first.

Load shots into slots#

You have the following options to load a shot:

• Load the shot back into the playback mode of its source slot
  • by double-clicking on the shot
  • via menu item
    • Shot Library > [Load Group of Selected Shot Into Source Slots]
  • via Stream Deck and Tangent controller action
    • [Load Group of Selected Shot Into Source Slots]
• Load the shot into a dedicated slot
  • via drag and drop
  • via menu item
    • Shot Library > [Load Selected Shot Into Selected Slot]
  • via Stream Deck and Tangent controller action
    • [Load Selected Shot Into Selected Slot]
• Add the shot to a multi-view and load it into a temporary slot
  • by pressing OPT and clicking on the shot
  • via the contextual menu of the shot
    • [Add to Multi-View]
  • via Stream Deck and Tangent controller action
    • [Add or Remove Selected Shot to Multi-View]