CMS for Storage and Places

[poya]

Hi guys,

I was wondering if you could help clarify something for us. We are working on a project which requires us to manage the content being stored, cued, and played by madrix.

Now I'm pretty confident we can incorporate a cue editing system into the CMS, which will allow the user to select the stored places they want to cue up and push that to the software to play(using the HTTP methods - correct me if I'm wrong by the way). The one caveat we have at the moment is allowing the CMS to control the creation of the storage space assets.

I've read the documentation and I can't find a way of creating an SCE Video effect using a CMS to upload the file, set the settings, and store this effect in a storage place. I've seen there is a SetStorage command, but that only sets a black SCE color; is there no way of doing what I have in mind?

Any advice you can give would be really appreciated. As long as we can remotely create madrix effects and cue them up I'll be a happy man!

Thanks in advance for any tips.

Regards,
Poya

[Guertler]

Hello poya,
Welcome to the MADRIX forum.
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With the help of the MADRIX HTTP server it is possible to control the global settings of MADRIX remotely. You can control for instance the value of the crossfader, the storage number, the storage place, settings of the cuelist and much more.
All available HTTP functions you can find in the MADRIX Remote Members. To open this list please start MADRIX, go to "Preferences > Remote Control > HTTP". Now a new dialog will be opend. Please click "Enable" and then "Call". A new page will be opened in your webbrowser which is called "MADRIX Remote HTTP". Please click the button "MADRIX Remote Members" and you will find the list of functions.
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With the HTTP commands it is not possible to change effect settings like load a desired video in the "SCE Video" effect or choose another effect.
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What you have to do is prepare all the required effects in MADRIX on several storage places and create a remote control user interface with your desired CMS which is able to choose the desired storage place at the right time.
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If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact us again!
Thank you.

[poya]

Hi Guertler,

Thanks for getting back to me so quickly. I've got some follow up questions though.

We are hoping to create a playlist from the CMS which will incorporate Videos, Images, and a Ticker / Scrolling Text. The videos and images will be preloaded into a Storage Place like you detailed. However, we want the text to come from live twitter feeds. Having looked at the software, it doesn't look like I can use the built in cue list the way we want too (as I can't change the text in a store without first navigating to the store).

We want the text to change each time the playlist loops. This will all be pulled by a script running on a server. The idea we had was to make changes to the text stores without fading to them using http remote commands, then save this updated cue and force a change/update to the currently running cue on madrix.

I think that is one option, but you might no a better route.

Our other option (which might not work, correct me if so) is to ignore the built in cue and to create our own cue using the remote commands.

In this instance we would create a method which navigates to the storage places using the SetStorage command, and immediately sets the text we need it to have (or sets it before navigating if we can use the SetStoreageWithoutFade command).

Sorry if I've not explained myself clearly by the way. Any suggestions or ideas you may have will be really beneficial so thanks in advance!

Regards,
Poya

[Guertler]

Hello Poya,
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When you want to create a cuelist in MADRIX with different entries in each loop you can use the MADRIX "File Watcher" option. The Cuelist can also load .csv files and with the help of the "File Watcher" you can update this .csv file. In the following link you can learn more about the "File Watcher" option in MADRIX:
http://help.madrix.com/m3/html/madrix/i ... neral.html
That means you will need another service besides the MADRIX HTTP server which receives the commands from your desired CMS and creates a new .cvs file for the cuelist.
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Regarding your question about the twitter feeds. I think there are two possibilities:
1.) You have to install a client at the MADRIX PC. This client will prepare the desired twitter message and save it to a text file. MADRIX will load this text file with the help of a created macro and set the text of this text file as ticker text.
In the following link you will find more information how you can create a macro in MADRIX:
http://help.madrix.com/m3/html/script/index.html
To read an external text file which is stored on the HDD you have to use the function "int ReadAsync(string file, string txt)"
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2.) You create a sequence of HTTP commands. In this sequnece you have to make sure that on one side a desired effect is playing and the crossfader is on this side. On the other side the "SCE Ticker/Scrolling Text" effect is selected. Now you can change the text via the HTTP command: "SetTextTicker". Your desired CMS is responsible to create the correct string from the twitter feed. Then move the crossfader to the side of the "SCE Ticker/Scrolling Text" effect via HTTP.
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If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact us again!

[poya]

Excellent!

Thanks for all the help and suggestions Guertler. I hadn't even thought about using the macros scripts as a way of loading in text. I'll sit down with the team and discuss what the best way to go is.

Really appreciate the advice.

Thanks again.