About media buttons
Media Buttons represent the very core of the Click Effects workflow media playback functionality. A typical Media Button displays information, including Media Type, Duration, current state, etc. A thumbnail provides a visual indication as to the content that is linked to a Media Button. You can create over 5,000 Media Buttons per user.
Media button link to content
It is important to know that a Media Button represents a link to content residing on your Click Effects PRIME system’s hard drive. If you make multiple copies of a Media Button, the workflow does not copy the physical file on the system’s hard drive; it merely creates another link to this file. This helps to retain enough hard drive space available for future content.
Visual elements
A media button consists of the following elements:
| 1 | Duration |
| 2 | Board Name *GPU Only |
| 3 | Media Type Indicator |
| 4 | Thumbnail |
| 5 | Title |
| 6 | Loop Indicator |
Status colors
The background color of a media button indicates the state of the media button:
- Yellow: Preview
- Green: Program
- Red: Marked
- Teal: Selected
- Black: Idle
Application modes
Click Effects can be in one of two modes:
- Player Mode is the default mode, and allows you to play media items.
- Organizer Mode allows you to perform organizational actions such as moving and deleting Media buttons.
Depending on the current mode of your Workflow, a single click on a Media Button triggers a specific action:
- If the Workflow is in Player Mode, a single click on a Media button either Previews the media associated with this button, or takes the media already in Preview to Program.
- If the Workflow is in Organizer mode, a single click on a media button selects the media button for organizational purposes. The button displays a teal highlight color.
Contextual (right-click) menu
In either Player Mode or Organizer Mode, media button options are displayed in the its-context (right-click) menu.
- Right-click on a media button to display the contextual menu.
- Depending on the media button mode and state, the contextual menu will allow you to:
- Switch between Player Mode and Organizer Mode.
- Change page properties
Media page
A Media Page is the visual area within which Media Buttons are located. Media Page can contain up to 60 Media Buttons.
Change page properties
The Media Page Buttons are located at the left of the Click Effects interface.
At any time, you can right-click a Media Page Button to change the Media Page Name or Media Page Button color.
Media bank
A single media bank is represented by a tab on the left-hand side of your screen, and each media bank holds a total of fourteen media pages.
Change bank properties
At any time, you can right-click a media bank button and change the bank name.
There are ten Media Types available within the Click Effects system.
- The icon in the upper right corner and the color of the Media Button name identify the type of the button.
- The Duration counter in the upper left corner displays the length of a video clip.
- Looping
- Single Play
If the Duration or Looping/Single Play corners are blank, then they do not apply to that Media Type.
Media button definitions
| Term | Definition |
| Video | Full Motion Video: Any Video moved to Program displaces currently playing Video, Stills or Full Screen Graphics. |
| Still | Single Frame of Video (Still): Any Still moved to Program displaces currently playing Video, Stills or Full Screen Graphics. |
| Full Screen Graphic | Full Screen Graphic: Created in the Graphics Editor, it behaves much like a Still. Any Full Screen Graphic moved to Program displaces currently playing Video, Stills or Full Screen Graphics. |
| Bug | Bug Graphic: Created in the Graphics Editor, a Bug remains in Program until it is physically removed. A TV station logo is a typical example of a Bug. |
| Overlay | Overlay Graphic: Created in the Graphics Editor, an Overlay attaches itself to a Video, Still or Full Screen Graphic in Program. The Overlay disappears as soon as the associated Video, Still or Full Screen Graphic is stopped or displaced. |
| Playlist | Video/Still Playlist, Graphics Playlist, or Audio Playlist: A Playlist is a sequential list of media items. |
| Group | Group: This Media Button can contain a collection of other Media Buttons. When multiple media must be launched at the same time, a Group simplifies this action by simultaneously activating all grouped Media Buttons. |
| Remote | Remote: This media button fires events. The events can, for example, display Media Buttons, perform commands, or control exterior hardware. These events can execute on the local machine and/or remote machines that reside on the same network. |
| DVE |
DVE (Digital Video Effect): A Digital Video Effect can perform a video squeeze or display Picture-in-Picture (PIP) with both video playback and Live Feed. This button is available only in the HD-SDI Workflow and Event Workflow. |
Managing media
The Media Button context right-click menu makes it very easy to create various Media Types at any point in time.
Any ‘Create…’ item in the Media Button right-click menu creates a new Media Button and launches the appropriate editor. For example, if you select Create Graphic, then the Click Effects PRIME Graphics Editor launches, and you can add graphics objects.
The Record Video and Create DVE selections are available only within the HD-SDI Workflow and Event Workflow.
A Player in the HD-SDI Workflow represents one physical video and audio output of the Click Effects PRIME system. For systems that are configured with multiple video outputs, a Player for each output is available from a tab at the top of the GUI.
The HD-SDI Workflow Player interface extends across the top of the screen and contains many video, graphic and audio controls. These controls are the same for each channel of video.
For more information see HD-SDI Workflow: HD-SDI Workflow Player Interface Explained.
A Board within the GPU Workflow represents an area on the physical GPU output of the system. In general, the pixels inside this GPU output area are processed and displayed on LED video boards.
The main playback control interface runs across the top of the screen and contains one or many Board Control widgets. These widgets have the same look-and-feel for each LED board that is controlled, and should have different colors and names for easy identification of each.
The Event Workflow is a combination of HD-SDI and GPU outputs. Designed for smaller installations, this workflow has the same tabbed view as the HD-SDI workflow, but one of the tabs displays a GPU Workflow set of controls.