09: Formation Tool

Overview

The formation tool is designed to convey tactical insight of the game to viewers or players.

The video preview is replaced with pitch background and the formation graphics, which usually consists of counters for 1 or 2 teams. The counters are able to be moved and combined with other Paint Tools to further explain tactical points. The tool allows to prepare several game setups and present them later.

Formations tab

Here you can view and edit formations used within the tool. You can also create formations.

• Controls (New): Creates a new formation with default counter positions.
• Clone: Clones the currently selected formation.
• Remove: Removes the currently selected formation. A formation used in a Preset cannot be removed, you have to remove the preset first.
• Team dropdown: Allows you to access data naming feeds by Binding to Opta feed or Binding to GSIS data.
• Player table: Allows you to add additional information to the Counters such as Player name, jersey number, set x,y co-ordinates for counters and set individual images for counters.. You can invoke popup menu for given and choose player name from the list of bindings. Counter Id's serve for pairing of table row with counter in the Formation preview only.
• Formation preview: See the counters and their position on the pitch. You can drag and drop the counters on desired positions.

Add a player

1. Right click in the Formation preview at the position, where the new players should appear.
2. Choose Add from the popup menu.

Remove a player

1. Right click on the player to be removed.
2. Choose Remove.

To be able to use Opta/GSIS bindings in the Player table, the Opta/GSIS modules must be running and providing data. See more information in the corresponding chapters.

Presets

Presets tab

In the first instance it is important to note that a preset differs from a formation. A preset is a saved amalgamation of information such as a team texture plus the ability to show more than one team within the tool in the preview window.

Control

• New – Creates a new Preset with default counter parameters.
• Clone – Clones the currently selected preset.
• Remove – Removes the currently selected preset.
• Preset List – Displays a list of the available presets. Change the preset selection to view/edit preset parameters.
• Pitch View dropdown – Allows you to select one of the predefined pitch view angles for currently selected preset.
• Background Camera Dropdown – Allows you to select any incoming video feed as a background source for the formation.
• Preset properties panel – Allows you to edit counter textures, effects or assign a formation to both teams. To immediately see how property changes are applied to formation appearance, it is recommended to show the formation using the Formations widget before editing properties.

Preset setup

In this section you can find configuration of HOME and AWAY teams in preset.

• Home Team / Away Team: Team switch, indicates which team is displayed and edited below. Checkboxes right next to them control whether or not the team is active and its players should be displayed in the preview.
• Squad import: Allows you to access data naming feeds by Binding to Opta feed or Binding to GSIS data.
• Pitch view: Allows you to select one of the predefined pitch view angles.
• Texture file, Scale: Default values for player texture and its scale factor. Separate for each team.
• Glow effect: Glow texture shown below players in the preview when they are selected. Can be turned off by the checkbox.
• Formation: Formation defines the positions of players in a team. Last used formation is displayed, selecting a different one will apply it, moving all players in the team. Existing formations can be removed, new ones can be created by manually moving the players to desired positions, then clicking on the save button and choosing name. Separate for each team.
• Pitch grid: Show/hide pitch wireframe overlay over the background in the pitch window

Top preview

A simplified preview of the pitch with current position of players (counters). Currently unused players are placed in the bottom "Unused counters" section.

Players can be:

• Selected by left clicking on them
• Moved by dragging
• Removed by right clicking and choosing the "Remove" option
• Added by right clicking anywhere on the pitch and choosing the "Add" option

Formation preset as clip

After a preset is sent to a clip via the option in the Formation Tool widget, a basic 25s clip with the preset background and Counters is created. The preset in the clip is a current state copy of the preset in the Formation model.
Counters now behave as standard drawings and therefore can be viewed and managed in the timeline (only exception being they cannot be deleted). They inherit all properties from the origin preset counters and their production is defined across the whole clip.
The clip can then be managed (rename/move/delete…) and used (add/remove/edit tool drawings) same as any other clip.

Keyframing counter positions

Position and production timing of Counters can be adjusted in the same way as for tool drawings by first switching to the Edit mode and then changing position at required times. This will create position keyframes for affected Counters and defined paths will be showcased with lines.

Changes then need to be saved by clicking the Save (modified) button.

Adjusting in/out points

The size of the preset clip can be adjusted in the In/Out point widget by jogging to required time and marking a new in/out point (click and hold for 1s).

Counter Setup

Here is the configuration of the currently selected player. You can edit texts, precise position and override counter texture and/or its scale.

Text style

The top header controls style of currently selected text (highlighted by green).

Text style is shared across all players from the team.

• Show/Hide text
• Position of text relative to the player
  • By precise X and Y coordinates
  • By the virtual joystick
  • Left click to activate (joystick will turn to green)
    1. Move the text
    2. Hold and drag the joystick by mouse
    3. Use arrow keys
    4. Scroll over the joystick (scroll = Y coord, scroll + SHIFT = X coord)
    5. Click anywhere else to deactivate
• Text font - family, horizontal align, size, bold/italic modifiers and color

Text values and position

In the bottom left you can change text values of the currently selected player, remove existing text (from the whole team) by clicking the "-" button next to it or add new text (to the whole team) by clicking the "+" button below.

On the bottom right there is an advanced configuration of the selected player.

You can:

• Edit its position precisely by X and Y coordinates
• Override default team texture
  1. Click on the link button (white = linked to team, red = unlinked/overridden)
  2. Define custom player texture
• Override texture scale factor
  1. Click on the link button (white = linked to team, red = unlinked/overridden)
  2. Define custom texture scale factor

Text tab

Here you can set properties for text rendered over the counters in the video preview area. Unfortunately most of the editors don't have 'Live update'. You have to hide and show the formation tool using the Formation Widget to see the changes in the video area.

Using your own counter textures

The tools come ready to use with default resources.

To add your own counter textures, copy them into:

Operating System	Location
Windows	Documents\Paint9\Formation\Soccer\Counters
macOS X	/Library/Application Support/ChyronHego/Paint/Formations/Soccer/CountersReplacing default textures is not recommended as they might be overwritten during the next installation process.