vMix Master Class - Video Production & Live Streaming

vMix is packed with features and options. Fortunately, you don’t need to master all of them to get started. It is best to first familiarize yourself with the overall layout and functionality of the interface.

The Preview and Output Windows

When you open vMix for the first time, you will see a fairly blank canvas. This will come to life as you begin to add pieces to your production. Taking up much of the screen, you will see two windows. The on the right is the “output” window, and the one on the left is the “preview” window. The output window shows what is currently being sent to your live stream or recording. This is often referred to as the program monitor. Whatever is in the output window is live. The preview window lets you view an input source before sending it to the output. This way, you can be sure that you have the right source, and everything looks good before switching it to the output.

The Input Area

On the bottom left of vMix, is one of the most important parts of the interface, the input area. This is where you set up everything you want to add to your production, including cameras, videos, images, and websites. Anything that you eventually want to end up on the output screen needs to start here.

The Transition Bar

In the center of the screen, between the preview and output windows, is the transition bar. This is where you can switch from what is in the preview window to the output. There are multiple options for this, including an instant cut. Next to each of the other additional options is a dropdown menu where you can choose from several additional preset transitions. There is also a manual fader bar at the bottom that allows you to manually control the transition speed.

Other Features

Other features of vMix will be covered in future articles but you should take some time to explore the interface. Check out the Settings menu in the upper right to adjust some of the more advanced settings. Also, take a look at the option across the bottom next to Add Input. Record enables recording of the output. Click on the gear icon to choose the filetype, location, and other recording settings.

The External output feature allows you to send audio and video out of vMix in several ways. Click on the gear to see how you can select what sources are assigned to what outputs. Click the gear next to the stream to set up your live stream to multiple destinations.

On the far right are several menus, including one for overlay settings, statistics, shortcuts, and a hamburger menu that will reveal several other submenus.

There is no need to master all of these menus and settings yet. This exercise aims to help you begin to understand how the interface is laid out and how to find things as you need them later. Very few operators will ever use every possible setting or feature of vMix, but it is good to know where they are.

Inputs are the foundation of your vMix production. An input is any element that you want to add as part of your video production. They can include cameras, videos, images, PowerPoint presentations, and other sources. vMix makes it easy to add inputs and then adjust a wide range of settings to get your input ready for your production.

Start by adding a camera. Most video productions use cameras as the central element connecting viewers to the event and activity. Most cameras can be connected via capture devices, either with internal PCIe capture cards or external SDI or HDMI capture cards via USB. They can also be connected via USB or over an ethernet network using NDI.

To get started, make sure your camera is connected and click on the “Add Input” menu at the bottom left of the screen. When the dialog box opens, you will see down the left side every type of input you can add. You will learn in more detail later on how all of these different sources function. For now, click Camera.

From the dropdown menu, click on your camera or capture device. If you are using a Magewell, Blackmagic, or AJA capture device, vMix should be able to automatically detect your settings from the capture device and camera. You can double check those settings in the dialog box. You will want to be sure the camera’s frame rate matches the master frame rate of your production. You can double check that in the lower right hand corner of your interface screen. If you would like to use the audio from this source, click on the Audio Enabled checkbox and choose the source from the dropdown menu. When you are done, click OK.

Once you have added a source, you will have access to many other settings. Just locate the input and click on the gear icon. This will open the settings menu for that source. You will likely want to change the name of the source here so it will be easy to reference as you add more sources. You can also add the source to one of the color categories. Color categories can be used to organize your inputs into tabs. As your production grows, you should consider naming every input and organizing inputs into these tabs for quick reference. You can create names for these tabs by right clicking the tabs and entering titles.

Under general settings you can determine what will happen when you click the source. You can have it move to the preview window, cut directly to the output, or choose from transition and overlay options.

You can also choose to to check the Automatically mix audio setting. If your individual cameras are connected to their own microphones and you want that camera’s microphone to become active when you switch to the camera, check this box. If you have a master audio source from a sound board of independent mics, you will want to be sure this box is not checked.

Down the left side of this dialog box you can explore the various other setting options you will have for this input. You can adjust the color, apply color correction, set position, and set up chroma and luma keys. You can also set multi-view options to add other input sources, set up action triggers, control tally lights, and even remotely operate PTZ cameras.

Once you have added a camera, you can go ahead and add additional sources following the same steps.

vMix's Input Multi View makes it easy to design custom inputs that combine multiple input sources into one scene. For instance, you could have a camera input as the main image and then add a backdrop, an inset picture-in-picture video, a lower thirds title, etc. The best part is that, when you create this MultiView input, all of these sources are still usable as independent sources. That means that, with just one click, that inset video could play full screen.

Input Multi View is not the same as overlay channels. This means that you can setup a multiview input combining several inputs and still have access to all of the overlay channels. Also, keep in mind that Image Multiview is not the same as the full-screen multiview output, which allows you to see and organize views inputs. For example, Input Multi View would be used to create an input with multiple layers and a Multiview output would be used to monitor your production on a second monitor.

Creating a MultiView Input

Up to ten Multi View layers can be set up on any input. A great way to get started is to create a brand new blank input for testing. Just click Add Input and select the Colour option. Next, click the gear icon in the newly added input. Under the General options, give it a name so you can easily find it later.

Setting it Up

Now select Multi View from the options on the left side to begin setting it up. On the right, you will see various templates for your Multi View like side by side, picture in picture, and a three by three grid. These templates are just a starting point to save you time and effort. You can change the layout as you go, and even save layouts for the future using the Add button.

On the left are the ten positions where you can add inputs to your multiview. The order represents the position of the layers back to front. Input Ten is the top layer, whereas input one is the furthest layer in the back.

Once you have selected all of your inputs, there are a couple of options for moving them around. You may be satisfied with the layout of the template you choose. But, if not, you can click and drag to move the elements around in the window at the bottom. Holding the shift key while clicking and dragging will resize the input. If you would rather, you can click the Position button next to each source and use the sliders to adjust the input's position and cropping.

Saving Templates

Once you have a layout you like and think you may want to use it again for other Multi View setups, you can save it as a template. Just go back to the templates in the upper right and click Add. When you load a new template it basically imports the settings you have created for each layer. So, as you add new inputs to each layer they will automatically include the Zoom, Pan, Rotation and Crop properties saved inside of that Multi View preset.

Once you know how to create a Multi View from scratch, it is just as easy to create one from an existing input. This is great if you wanted to add something like a logo or title to an image or video input.

Once you have a Multi View created, you can even use them within other MultiViews. When creating a new Multiview and selecting the inputs, you can choose existing MultiViews from the drop-down menu.

There is really no limit to the creative ways you can use your inputs to make scenes and templates with multiple inputs on one screen. Even better, you still have access to your overlay channels for even more options.

Pro Tip: Use your overlay channels when you want to quickly show or hide inputs on screen. Use Multi View when you want to build a more complex scene that will be a base layer in your production that you can switch to.

Learn how to work with titles.

An essential part of any great video production is quality audio. Fortunately, vMix includes flexible and powerful audio tools and controls. To see how it all works, start by adding a dedicated audio source. Audio can also be included on all common video inputs. Still, you may also want to add stand-alone audio sources like microphones, audio interfaces, and mixers.

Add the Input

Click on add input and look toward the bottom of the left-hand column for Audio Input. Click on that, and you can select the live audio source you wish to use. From the dropdown menu, choose the source. Before you click okay and leave this screen, look for the Mute in Headphones checkbox. This is useful for any source that you do not want to monitor in your headphones. For instance, when using a live microphone to narrate a video production, some operators would rather not hear that in their headphone mix.

Changing Settings

The next thing you may want to do is click on the gear icon on this new audio input source and go to the audio settings menu. The input settings are different from the “audio settings” but inside the input settings you can click “Audio Settings” to access the unique Audio Settings.

Indicator and Levels

Now, as you look at your input in the input source window, you should notice a green Audio button at the bottom right. That button will be green whenever the audio is on. If the audio source is sending a signal, you will also see that the levels next to the input are showing up as green bars and inside of the audio mixer. You can click on the Audio button to turn off the input source. When you do this the button will turn gray, and the level meters will turn gray.

Inside Audio Settings you will have the option to adjust gain and delay for your source. You can also adjust the headphone volume or click the green headphones to turn headphone audio off for this input. There is a checkbox you can click remove the input from the audio mixer. This is helpful to clean up your audio mixer and only keep the input you need. The Audio Setting area also gives you controls over Gain, EQ, Compressor, Noise Gate, a Channel Mixer and a Channel Matrix. The VST 3 Plugins options will be reviewed in the next chapter.

Master Levels

All of the activated audio inputs go to the master audio in vMix. If you have an active audio source, you will also see the level on the master levels located to the left of the output window.

The Audio Mixer

By default, the Audio Mixer is located on the right hand side of vMix. If you don't see it on the bottom right portion of your interface, look for the gray Audio Mixer button. If you click it, it will turn green, and the mixer will appear below it. Any input that you add that has audio will show up here with its own slider and have the same name as it does in the input window. This entire audio mixer can be undocked and moved. This is great if you are working with multiple audio sources and need more space.

The audio mixer enables you to adjust the gain and balance of each individual source. You can also see the levels that will match those from the source over in the inputs area. Also, if you click the green audio button to turn off the audio on the input, you will notice the green speaker also turns off in the mixer area for that source, and the levels turn blue there as well. It works both ways. If you click the green speaker, you can toggle the audio from that source on and off. That will be reflected both in the mixer and on the input. This audio mixer is also where you will find the master audio for which you can also control the gain and balance.

Other Options

Some other options found in the audio mixer include the gear icon, which gives you access to the advanced audio settings for that input. These include audio effects and control of the delay, which can be useful for syncing your audio with your video. Audio sync issues are common and vMix makes it very easy to apply audio delay to individual inputs in order to sync your audio and video.

If you have audio sync issues, it is most likely an issue that audio delay can fix. Depending on your computer and audio visual connections latency between video and audio inputs can vary. Usually video sources can take just a little more time to process than audio due to higher bandwidth requirements. To fix this issue, try adding a delay to your audio inputs in increments of 25 until the issue is resolved.

Pro Tip: Included in the online course you will find an Audio Video Sync Tool. This is a video that you can use to determine the exact amount of latency you should apply to your audio sources.

The ability to use third-party AUDIO plug-ins give vMix users access to a massive collection of tools to help create professional-quality audio for their live productions. VST (Virtual Studio Technology) uses digital signal processing to recreate traditional audio hardware once often found in professional audio studios. Now with vMix and VST, producers have access to the sound of high-end compressors, expanders, reverb units, delays, equalizers, effects, and more.

First Things First

Before you dive into audio plug-ins, there are a few things to double-check. First of all, be sure that you have vMix version 20.0.0.41 or higher. Also, keep in mind that vMix supports VST 3 64-bit plug-ins. You will find many VST and VST 2.0 plug-ins on the market, but for stability and reliability, look for VST 3 64-bit. They are available from many vendors, including waves.com. One of the most important things to remember is to thoroughly and carefully test these plug-ins before you go live with them.

Downloading and Installing

If you are looking for high quality and affordable VST 3 plugins, I highly suggest Waves.com. Two audio plugins I consider must haves are NS1 (for noise suppression) and Renaissance Axx (A plugin to make voices sound more robust). Once you find a plug-in that you are ready to test out, go ahead and download it. Most downloads will come with an installer that will automatically place the files where they belong, usually: program files/common files/VST 3.

Now that the plug-in is installed, open up vMix, and you can see how to add it. You can add plug-ins to both individual inputs and to your master. There may be instances where you want to apply specific vocal effects to a microphone input such as reverb and a general effect to the master, such as a compressor.

Go to the audio mixer and click on the gear icon on either the master or an individual input to open the Audio Settings “Plugins” tab. Now click on the + button to add a plug-in. Select a driver from the dropdown menu and then choose from any plug-in associated with that driver from the next dropdown and hit OK. That will bring up the editor screen for that specific plug-in.

Different types of plugins have different interfaces. Some show a graphical interpretation of the physical version of the hardware, and others have simpler interfaces. Usually, once you add the plug-in, if that input has active audio, you should be able to hear it and make adjustments in real-time in the editor. Once you have it set up the way you want it, you can save a preset within the plug-in to quickly load it later.

Using Shortcuts

Once you have your plug-in set up, you can make them easily accessible by setting up shortcut keys. You can even control them from a midi-controller, X-keys, or vMix web controller.

Audio Plug-ins are a great way to improve the sound of your live production. However, if you are new to them, they can be a bit overwhelming. If you want some guidance about what plug-ins work best with vMix, check out some of the online forums on vMix.com.

The Settings menu, accessible in the upper right-hand corner of the vMix, gives you access to advanced features and settings. The most basic users will not likely ever visit many of these settings, but it is helpful to have a basic overview of what is available and where to find it.

On opening the Settings menu, you will see the 14 setting categories down the left-hand side. At the very bottom, look for the Import, Export, and Default buttons. These are critical, especially if you are moving or duplicating your setup to another computer. Using Export will create a file with all of the configurable settings. Import will load that file into another instance of vMix as long as it is the same version. Default will return all of the vMix settings to how they were when the software was first installed.

Here are the settings options available inside of vMix.

Display

These are the master settings for the vMix output. You can set the master output size, frame rate, and aspect ratio. You can also change the interface's theme colors and adjust the setting on the fullscreen output(s). Here you can select the monitor vMix will use for your full screen output.

Outputs/NDI/SRT

This is where you can adjust the multiple vMix outputs, whether via your graphics card or over NDI. The number of outputs is defined by the edition of vMix you are running. You can choose sources for your full screen outputs here or via the “Fullscreen” button at the center area above the transitions bar.

You can also configure NDI (Network Device Interface) outputs which are IP video streams that are made available over your local area network (LAN). You can choose to turn on up to four unique NDI outputs in addition to enabling all camera sources, vMix calls, and audio inputs/outputs. In this way, you can make almost any source in vMix available to other computers on your network. By clicking the settings cog next to each NDI output you can configure the NDI outputs audio channel, resolution and video settings. You can even enable SRT outputs in this area with quality setting and latency options.

Options

This area includes many of the general preferences for vMix. These include the preferred language, the layout of the interface, and how the software behaves on startup and during a recording or streaming session. One new feature in Options will enable Production Clocks.

Once enabled a Production Clock will appear underneath the transition bar area. You can double click this box to bring up it’s settings options. Production Clocks allow you to quickly reference the time and a custom countdown time based on an event. You can also keep track of the time you have been recording or streaming.

Performance

The Performance settings tab is where you can select the graphics card you will be using with vMix. It is here you can enable Low Latency Capture and High Input Performance Mode. You can also access settings that will alert you when your CPU or GPU is pushing its limits. This is helpful so you can address any issues that may lead to poor performance or dropped frames.

Pro Tip #1: In addition to enabling your graphics card for use with vMix, check to see if your graphics card has been updated. For NVIDIA graphics cards for example, you need to open the NVIDIA Control Panel and add vMix as a selected program in the 3D Settings Area.

Pro Tip #2: If you are using a Windows laptop check out your battery settings. In “Power Options” you can enable “Performance Mode” which will greatly increase the performance of your laptop and it’s ability to run vMix smoothly.

Decoder

This section is for specifying what decoders will be used to playback certain video file types. In most cases, these can all be left at their default settings.

Recording

Here you can specify the default folder where recordings will be stored and the format for the filename. You can also set the size for the recording memory buffer. This may be useful if you have an older mechanical hard drive and are experiencing dropped frames during recording.

External Output

This is where you can access advanced settings for the available external outputs in vMix. Remember, most editions of vMix offer one external output, whereas 4K and Pro offer a second output. The External output can be used to enable a virtual webcam driver used to send video into additional programs such as Skype or Zoom.

Audio

This includes several preference settings, including a master setting for the Automatically Mix Audio setting. You can also turn off and on the audio meters for both the master and the individual inputs. There is an option to fade the audio entirely along with the video when Fade to Black in selected. Finally, there is a setting for a default audio delay across all inputs, which can be useful for dealing with syncing issues at a master level.

Audio Output

This controls the routing settings for the master output and headphones. You can also configure the seven auxiliary audio buses. Any of the outputs can be set to various output channels, including mixes for surround sound. Here you can also select the default audio bus for new inputs as they are added. Once you add an audio output it will show up as an audio routing option in the audio mixer.

Web Controller

This area contains everything you need to set up the vMix web controller. This is a web-based controller that you can use to switch vMix inputs, use shortcuts, edit titles, setup tall lights, and interact with the API. You can access this controller from any computer on your LAN using the web site address provided. You can optionally set up a username and password to restrict access to this controller. The Web Controller will be covered in more detail in an upcoming chapter.

Tally Lights

While there are other options for using tally lights, this section includes the settings for a tally light system based on Arduino hardware. Unless you are using such a system, you can ignore this settings tab.

Shortcuts

This is where you can set up, store, and edit shortcuts for nearly any function within vMix. Shortcuts can be assigned to the keyboard, MIDI device, and other control devices. Shortcuts will be covered in more detail in an upcoming chapter.

Activators

With activators, you can activate lights, buttons, and even motorized faders based on changes in vMix.

Scripting

For advanced users running 4K or Pro editions, this is where you can add and edit custom scripts.

There are lots of ways you can output video from vMix. You may be considering using vMix for live streaming or recording. Still, you may also want to send signals to projectors or external monitors. This could be for IMAG (image magnification) or simply to enhance production workflow by viewing the output, preview, or program views in an external monitor. In some studios, full screen outputs are used to power confidence monitors used by on screen talent.

Fullscreen

One way to handle external video is through the Fullscreen button located at the top center of the interface. There are many options for what is fed to this output. It can be connected to a monitor or projector through your computer’s graphics card.

With vMix, it is recommended that you use a dedicated GPU (graphics processing unit). The software is optimized to take advantage of this additional processing power. It will take some of the workload off of your CPU which can lead to better performance. These cards also tend to have multiple outputs. That allows you to take advantage of the numerous ways you can output video from vMix.

Before you get started with Fullscreen, connect the additional display to your graphics card and be sure Windows recognizes it. In the Windows Screen Resolution control panel, configure it to “Extend these displays.”

With most production setups, you will have one output from your graphics card connected to a monitor to display your vMix interface for switching and control. With the additional screen connected, you can use the Fullscreen option and decide what will go to it. With vMix 4K or Pro, or the fully functional trial, you can actually add two Fullscreen outputs.

First, in the Settings section, click on Display and choose the display output you want to use for Fullscreen. Next, determine what you want to be sent to this display. By default, it is the final mixed output, but there are other options. Click on the down arrow on the Fullscreen button and choose from Output, Preview, MultiView, or any of the inputs you have set up in your input area.

MultiView

MultiView is an excellent option if you want an external monitor to display multiple views. For instance, a typical setup might have the preview window, the output window, and four commonly used inputs. Suppose another display shows the interface with the preview and output views. In that case, you could choose to have all of your inputs displayed in the multiview. To adjust what is shown in the MultiView, go to the settings menu, select Outputs/NDI/SRT. Under MultiView Layout, choose the general layout and then click Customize Layout to specify what should appear in each window of the MultiView.

Full Screen and Multiview are powerful features within vMix that give you a new level of flexibility and control. The more you dig into the features of vMix, the more important these viewing options will become.

vMix is a comprehensive solution for live production and live streaming. It also has powerful recording capabilities and can create numerous types of high-quality video files. Some users employ vMix mainly for the recording options. “Live to tape” productions are produced like a live show but recorded for later use. Live event producers can record a high quality for backup for archival purposes, create other productions from recorded footage, or offer viewers an on-demand version after an event.

All editions of vMix offer numerous recording options. Still, with 4K and Pro, the functionality is expanded with options like MultiCorder, ISO recording of individual inputs, and instant replay.

Storage Space

One really critical thing to keep in mind is that recording can use an enormous amount of disk space. It is an important consideration as you consider the type, quality, and length of the recording you will be doing. Be sure you have plenty of disk space, preferable SSD. Or, look into the external recording options that are possible with vMix.

The main factors affecting recording files sizes are the format you choose and the bitrate you select. Some “lossless” video recording codecs such as AVI, do not allow you to adjust the bitrate. AVI and vMix AVI are the highest quality codecs and require the most storage space. MP4, WMV, and FFMPEG all allow you to adjust the bitrate to reduce the file size. By far the most popular codec is MP4. When you choose MP4, you can select the resolution, frame rate and bitrate. I have found that between 8-12 Mbps is great choice for quality and file size. Those who care very much about quality may increase the bitrates to 50-100 Mbps.

Testing

It is also essential to test everything multiple times. This is especially crucial if you are working with new settings, recording multiple outputs, or recording and streaming at the same time.

Recording Options

To see the many options available for recording, click on the gear icon next to the record button on the bottom left of the screen. Down the left-hand side, you will see the various file formats available to you. There are pros and cons to each file type. You will want to do some research to see what file type works best for your available resources and what you intend to do with the recording.

If you aren’t sure, or just want somewhere to start, MP4 is a widely popular option. It offers high-quality recording with reasonable file sizes. MP4 files can also be uploaded directly to video sites like YouTube or Facebook, with no conversion necessary. Even better, if you have a newer NVIDIA video card, the encoding can be done via the graphics card to free up some resources from your CPU.

Recording Settings

Once you have selected your filetype, you will see the multiple settings for the file. You can choose a location and name the file, choose the resolution, and set the bitrate. Below that, you can select the profile, which is especially critical if you are going to use your GPU for encoding. You will need to be sure the profile will work with your specific card.

Further down, you can choose the audio source that will be recorded with the video. If you are unsure, leave this set to master. You can also set a delay for the audio if you need to do so to get it in sync and set the bitrate for the audio.

At the bottom, there are two additional important options. One allows you to start a new recording at a set interval of minutes. This is really helpful if you are creating a long production and want more manageable files to work with. To the far left is the WAV File Record button. This will create a separate WAV audio file of your entire recoding. This is perfect is you just want an audio backup or intend to use standalone audio for a podcast or other audio medium.

Once you have all your recording options set, it is as easy as clicking on the Record button at the bottom. You can also connect this to any triggers, shortcuts, or manual buttons you want to use. The record button will turn red, and you will see a red REC indicator at the top of the screen. When you are done, just click the Record button again to end the recording.

One of the most popular features of vMix is the ability to stream live productions out over the internet. vMix makes live streaming simple and offers many powerful features and customization settings to help you get the most out of your live stream.

There is an ever-growing list of live streaming providers from free social media sites to paid professional content delivery networks. Each has its own feature set and its own technical requirements.

Getting Started

To get started, click on the gear icon next to the Stream button at the bottom of the interface. At the very top of the dialog box, you will see the Profile section. This will enable you to save and recall specific streaming settings. This is perfect is you find yourself using different providers and settings for various productions.

Right below that, you will see boxes for streams one, two, and three. Every edition of vMix enables you to stream up to three platforms simultaneously. Since the setup process is the same for each one, we will only walk through setting up one stream.

Choosing Your Provider

In the destination field, you will see a massive list of live streaming providers. You will likely find your provider on the list. However, since new providers are popping all the time, yours may not be on there. Don't worry, you can still set up your stream manually. To do that, choose Custom RTMP Server and enter the URL and stream name or key provided by your streaming provider.

If your provider is on the list, select it, and you will have a chance to log into your streaming or social media account. You will notice that some of the dialog boxes are slightly different at this point. However, with most, you will just sign in and add some information. Some providers offer you multiple channels to stream to. Once you log in, these will be available from a dropdown menu.

Stream Settings

Once you are signed in and have entered any necessary information, you can choose your stream's quality. Depending on your edition of vMix, there are multiple presets ranging in quality from 360p to 4K. Most live-streaming platforms will give you suggested guidelines, and you are likely to find what you need on this list. However, if you need something different, you can choose any of the presets, click the gear icon, and change the settings.

When considering the quality of your stream, you will mostly be looking at resolution and bitrate. Your choices will be based on your provider recommendations, the quality of your production, and your internet connection's speed and reliability. Most streamers want their resolution to match the resolution of their production, especially when it comes to HD and 4K productions. They also want to use as a high of a bitrate as possible. However, this can lead to trouble if the internet connection is not fast enough.

Accounting for Network Resources

Your upload speed needs to be higher than your bitrate, or you will drop frames, or the stream will fail. It is a best practice to use a bitrate that is one half of your upload speed or less to leave room for network issues. It is essential to know your internet speed and test it. When testing internet speed, be sure to do so under similar conditions as when you will be streaming. For instance, if you are sharing a network with other users, you will want to test while using the network resources at the same level as your production time.

Starting the Stream

When all the settings are the way you want them, you can click Save and Close. You can start your stream from that same window or just click the Stream button on the bottom of the screen. The button will turn orange as it is connecting and the turn to red. If there is a problem with the stream at any point, the indicator will turn to orange. When you are done, hit the button again, and your stream will end.

Overlays, available in vMix, are a great way to add depth and dimension to your live video productions. With the touch of a button or click of a mouse, you can overlay multiple graphics and other inputs over your main output layer. You can produce the same look as professional broadcast studios with lower thirds, picture in picture videos, and much more.

Getting Started with Overlays

To get started, be sure you have the graphic, video, or camera added as an input in the input area. You will add it to the output as an overlay by clicking on the selected overlay number at the bottom of the input box. Depending on the edition, there will either be one or four options. If you are using the Basic or Basic HD editions, you will have access to one overlay channel, HD and higher offer four. If you are using the free trial, you will have access to all four.

Overlay Behavior

To determine how each overlay channel will behave, click on the Overlay button at the bottom of the screen. This will open up the overlay settings. Choose the overlay channel you want to work with from the dropdown menu in the first field. Next, choose the type. For titles and lower thirds, you will usually want to choose full screen. You can also select picture in picture if that is the look you want.

Next, from the Effect dropdown, you can choose a basic cut transition or choose from multiple transition effects. Below that, you can select the effect duration, which will determine how long the wipes, fades, or other effects will last. If you are using a basic cut, the software will ignore the duration setting.

Next is the duration of the overlay. This is how long the overlay will stay on the screen after it is activated. If you want to control this manually, just set this to 0. The next two settings are for the more advanced stinger transitions that add animation to the transition. That alpha setting is also available in the event of using transparencies in overlays. Otherwise, you can leave that alone.

For picture in picture options, the bottom half of the settings box lets you position your overlay element on the screen. You can adjust the size and position using your mouse, dragging to move the position or clicking and dragging to adjust the size. You can also use the zoom, pan, and rotation sliders on the left side. At the very bottom, you can add a border and adjust its color, thickness, and radius.

Once you are done, hit OK. Now when you hit the number of that overlay on any of your input sources, that source will appear as you selected over whatever is in the main output window. It will match the transition settings, positioning, and duration you have set.

Using Multiple Channels

You can use all four overlay channels at the same time. For instance, if you wanted to add a lower-thirds title, picture in picture video, a graphic, and even another video, you can use all the channels. For even more flexibility, you can use overlay channels with input multiview sources. You can create a scene of up to ten layers and then assign that to an overlay channel.

Other Features

There are a couple more features of the overlay channels you may find helpful. They both work via a right mouse click. To see and overlay in the preview window, right-click the selected overlay channel on the input you wish to use. When use transition from the preview window to output, the overlay will transition as well. Finally, with a right mouse click, you can zoom a picture in picture overlay to full screen. Once you have clicked the overlay number to add the input as an overlay, simply right-click the same button to zoom it to full screen. Another left-click will turn the overlay off.

vMix Social is an easy way to bring social media content into your live production. With social becoming such a big part of events, these tools will save you time and effort and make sharing social media posts and reactions an integrated part of your production.

Getting Started

To get started, go to Add Input and add a new title. Once you have selected the Title tab, you will see all the available title layouts. Click on the Social tab at the top. You can create your own custom social media title layouts, but you can also use one of the available templates. This will become the placeholder for the information that will come from your social media accounts.

Once you select one of the social titles, you will see how they have been created specifically for social media. The title editor has ready-made fields for the type of information you will want to share from social media. These are placeholders for things like profile pictures, user names, and social media messages. Some of the templates have a place for a title field. This is something you can enter in this editor, and it will remain the same no matter the data received from social media. Click on the X in the top right to close out of this window. If you want, you can click on that new title input and put it in the preview window to see what it will look like.

Connecting Social Media Accounts

Now it is time to connect to social media platforms to begin populating those fields. Open vMix Social by going to the hamburger menu in the lower right corner of the interface. It will automatically connect to vMix and show “Connected” in green at the top of the dialog box. Below that, you can see all the currently supported social media platforms. Keep in mind that these are subject to change. Social media sites are continually changing their access rules and processes, and some may become unavailable while others may grow in popularity and be added.

You can choose one social media platform or as many as you want. Clicking on each logo will give you access to the settings for that platform. You will see that each settings box is different since the various platforms have different login processes and search parameters.

Let’s take Twitter, for example. To get connected, you will log in and then be provided a PIN by Twitter, which you will enter in the next field. Once you are logged in, you can choose your feed type. You may want to collect Tweets around a particular hashtag or search phrase, show a specific timeline, or even favorited tweets. Below that, you can enter your search term or user name and make some other preference selections.

You can go ahead and repeat this process for any of the social accounts you wish to use. For Facebook, Twitch and YouTube, you can login to your accounts and select your specific live stream to receive comments from viewers. Once everything is set up and ready to go, you can add your social media title to your production using one of the overlay channels, keeping it in view all the time or only selecting it when you want it to be seen.

Moderation

Of course, in most cases, you will want the opportunity to moderate social media posts and comments before they appear in your live broadcast. That is easy to do with the vMix Social web interface. Copy the URL from the vMix Social box into the web browser on any computer or device connected to the local network. The easy to use interface will allow you to select and approve content and send it directly to vMix, where it will appear on the social media title slide you created.

The specific title that will receive this information is the one that you select in the vMix Social application. You have the choice to “Send” comments directly into that title, or build a list that you can manage by using the “Add to Queue” feature. Many times you may receive great comments but you are not ready to share them with your audience. Using the “Add to Queue” feature you can “View Queue” at any time to “Send” comments directly to your title from your curated list.

As your live productions become more complex, vMix makes it easy to access commands via your keyboard or MIDI device using shortcuts. Nearly anything you can do in vMix, you can do with just a keystroke or button press.

Getting Started

To get started, just click on the settings button in the upper right corner of your interface. Then select Shortcuts from the options in the left column. If you have yet to set up any shortcuts, you will see a blank screen. Let’s set up our first shortcut. Across the top, you will see tabs for the multiple options for assigning shortcuts to different devices, including the keyboard, MIDI controller, control surface, ShuttlePROv2, or joystick. We will start with a keyboard shortcut.

Setting Up a Keyboard Shortcut

Just click the Add button at the bottom of the screen. That will open up the Add Shortcut dialog box. You can either type in the key in the Key/Control field or hit the Find button. If you hit the Find button, another box will open and wait for you to press a key. Once you do and it is correct, press OK.

The next field down sets the function for that key. Click the down arrow to see all possible functions arranged by categories. Click to choose the process you wish to assign to that key. Next, you can select the duration for transition effects. Then, select the input you would like to apply the transition to. That can either be the preview window or any of the existing inputs. By ticking the box below, you can assign the shortcut to a specific input number.

You can then add a title and description to the shortcut and determine whether this will be a global shortcut available anywhere in vMix or local, assigned only to the current preset. You can also tick the box if you want this preset to be available in the vMix web controller. Then just click OK.

Once you have shortcuts set up, you can go to the shortcuts menu to add new shortcuts, edit, or even clone existing shortcuts. During the cloning process, you will find that you can assign multiple shortcuts to the same key. This is useful if you want to trigger multiple functions with one click.

Setting Up Shortcuts on External Devices

The process of adding shortcuts for a MIDI device, control surface, ShuttlePROv2, or joystick is similar. Before starting, be sure that your device is connected and set up in vMix. From there, simply click add. Next click find and then press or activate the button you wish to use. The rest of the process is the same.

If you want to set up a lot of shortcuts at once, you may want to look at the templates found at the lower right corner of the shortcuts menu. There are multiple templates for keyboards, MIDI devices, and other controllers. They come preloaded with functions assigned to keys, but they are entirely customizable to fit your specific needs.

Titles can be an essential part of your live video production. They can identify guests, introduce segments, and share additional information related to your production. vMix GT Title Designer creates dynamic titles without overtaxing your computer’s CPU. That is because the vMix GT Title Editor is GPU based. The designer is available in all editions of vMix. In 4K and Pro, you have the option to create custom animated titles and import Photoshop files directly in the PSD format.

Getting Started

Load the GT Title Designer by locating it in the hamburger menu on the bottom right of your screen. The default resolution for a new design will be 1080. If you want something different, just go to File in the upper left corner, click New, and you will have the chance to set the resolution.

You will see all of the different elements you can use to design your title down the left-hand side of the screen. The images represent text, rectangle, circle, triangle, image, 3-D text, ticker, and QR code. You can select any of the options, then click and drag on the canvas to place it and determine the size.

Once you add an element, you will notice on the right side that it appears under layer one. You can create additional layers by clicking the + button at the top of the layer box and remove them using the -.

Customization Options

Once you have placed an element on the canvas, you have several options for customizing it. For instance, if you place a shape such as a rectangle on the canvas, you can use your mouse to move it around. Hovering over the edges will allow you to drag to resize. Right-clicking on the object will reveal several options, including changing the fill to a different color or image, adding or editing the stroke outline of the object, sending it forward or backward within the layer, aligning it, or docking it to a specific part of the canvas. You can also create a group layer that will allow you to manipulate multiple objects at once and align them with each other.

There are more options available across the top of the editor, including styles that allow you to choose from some preset options. The format tab provides more specific settings for location, dimensions, rotation, and rounding. The effects tab offers options like opacity, shadow, reflection.

Adding text is similar to adding a shape. Just select the text option of the left and click and drag to add it to the canvas. Selecting text and clicking on the Home tab at the top will bring up text options such as font, font size, color, alignment, and stroke.

Some experimentation with the interface will help you see all of the options you have for manipulating shapes and text. Many users will find most of the options similar to other software like Microsoft Word, Photoshop, and online image editors.

You can decide if you want this title to hold the actual text you want to display or a placeholder so that it can be edited later. If you wish to use the text as a placeholder to change later, just enter some placeholder text. When you are done, be sure to save your title and exit the designer.

Adding Your New Title

Back in the vMix interface, click on Add Input and select title. When the title menu comes up, you can easily find your new creation by clicking on the Recent tab at the top. Once you select your title, you will have the chance to replace your placeholder text by right clicking it. Next, you can add that title to one of your overlay channels and activate it to see how it looks with your output source.

This is just a basic look at the vMix GT Title Designer. There is no limit to the ways you can create customized titles to go with your productions.

With vMix call, you can invite guests from nearly anywhere to join your live production. All your guest needs is a quality internet connection, the latest version of Google Chrome and a webcam. vMix takes care of everything. You don’t need to worry about extra equipment or common issues like echo or feedback. vMix Call is available with the HD edition with one caller. 4K increases that to 4 callers, and up to eight are available with Pro.

Pro Tip: If your far end guest is using vMix, try using a vMix to vMix connection.

Getting Started with vMix Call

To get started, open your vMix interface and head to the input menu in the lower left. Select video call at the bottom of the list. You will see two options: host a call and connect a call. Connect a call allows you to connect to another vMix production by sending your vMix output. But, for now, try hosting a call.

Guest Connection Information

Next, you will see the password box with an automatically generated password for your guest. Your guest can connect simply by going to vmixcall.com and entering their name and that password. You can also send your guest the link in the box below for a direct connection. Just be sure the guest is using Google Chrome on their computer.

Settings

Below that, you will see settings for the return feed. This will control what you guest will see when they log onto the call. You can choose the video source but it will default to your primary video output which is most likely what you will want your guest to see. If you have the 4K or Pro editions of vMix, you can also choose to send any of the three additional outputs.

Below that, you can choose the bandwidth of the video you send to your guest. This defaults to 720p to 1200 Kbps. However, if there are any bandwidth limitations for you or your guest, reducing this will not reduce the bandwidth of your production, just what your guest sees.

Finally, you can choose what audio mix you want to send to your guest. By default, you can send either the master audio or the mix for your headphones. With both of these, mix-minus is automatically taken care of, meaning your guest will not hear themselves echoing back through the connection. You can also set up custom audio buses to send audio to your guest. However, keep in mind, in those cases, you will need to take care of your own mix-minus.

The box right below that allows you to choose only peer to peer connections. Usually, there is an automatic fallback to a server if you can connect directly to your guest. If you are trying to troubleshoot a direct peer to peer connection, it may be useful to check this box. Now, just click the okay button.

The Guest Interface

When your guest connects via the address and password you provided, they will have a reasonably simple interface. It allows them to control what they see and also chat with the producer on the other end.

One final tip. You may want to go into the settings for your newly created input and, under general, untick the “Automatically mix audio” checkbox. That way, you can manually control your guest’s audio and not have it automatically turn on or off as you move their video into the output window.

Learn how to troubleshoot a vMix call.

Everyone has been asking us how to properly connect Zoom and vMix together. There are a lot of reasons why you might want to do this. First of all, you can use Zoom with your vMix productions to bring in remote guests. Yes, vMix has a feature called vMix call, but Zoom is much more popular for video conferencing and easier to use for most people. Also, vMix call is only available in the more expensive versions of vMix. Zoom is an easy way to host larger meetings and open up a host of new possibilities for improving your video production capabilities.

There are many other reasons why your Zoom meetings can be enhanced by vMix. One of the best reasons is to improve your audio quality using vMix's tools for audio. You can use VST3 plugins to enhance the audio coming from vMix into your Zoom meetings. You can also enhance the audio and video recording quality for your Zoom meetings using Zoom. So let's learn how to connect Zoom and vMix together.

Note: This tutorial is only for Windows. vMix is not available for Mac or Linux OS.

How to connect Zoom and vMix?

First, check out the diagram we have included above so that you can understand how everything connects. Because both Zoom and vMix run on a Windows computer. You do not need to run any physical cables to connect the two software solutions. This is going to be done 100% virtually. Starting with virtual audio cables. You will also use virtual webcam outputs and desktop capture inputs to connect the video.

Virtual Audio Cables

You will need two virtual audio cables to fully connect vMix and Zoom together. One virtual audio cable is used to output a mix of audio from vMix into Zoom and the other is used to bring the audio output from Zoom into vMix. Zoom essentially has two audio options for users to choose from. Zoom has a microphone input and a speaker output that we will use. In the picture above, ou can see that the tutorial uses virtual audio Cable-B for the Test Speaker and virtual audio Cable-A for the microphone. The Microphone input comes from the audio bus inside of vMix which can create a mix of audio to send to vMix. You can send any audio inside of vMix into Zoom. Be careful not to send the audio from Zoom back into Zoom, as this will cause a feedback loop.

Sending vMix Video to Zoom

Sending your video from vMix into Zoom is probably the easiest part of this setup. All you need to do is enable the "external" output button and then select "vMix" as your webcam in Zoom. Video is the easy part. Next, you can add an input inside of vMix with a desktop capture. The desktop capture would be the screen with Zoom on it. You can have Zoom in multiple layouts including grid view, speaker view, or have a single person video pinned. Anything on this screen will come into vMix through your desktop capture.

Additional Notes to Consider

Now that you have your audio and video connections, here are some additional technical notes to consider. First of all, you can always use the microphone indicator in Zoom to check to see if audio levels are coming through vMix into Zoom. You can also use the test speakers button in Zoom to check if audio is coming out of Zoom into vMix. If you have everything set up and working, the last part of this is to consider who you will hear the far-end audio from Zoom. There are basically three options for this. You can listen to a pair of headphones, you can set up an in-ear monitor system or you can connect to an audio system.

Conclusion

Connecting Zoom and vMix together can help you produce an amazing amount of live streaming and video conferencing improvements. From higher quality audio and video, to new applications that feature talks show guests and breakout sessions. You can see on our live show, that we use Zoom and vMix all of the time to produce innovative and interactive productions. You can learn more about using Zoom and vMix in our other articles below.

The vMix Web Controller gives you access to many of the features and controls of vMix from a smartphone, tablet or any computer on your network with a web browser. Just about any functioning smartphone or tablet will work as long as it has a web browser and can connect to the same network as your vMix computer. The Web Controller gives you the option to control the live production while away from the computer or give part of the production responsibilities to another person. The vMix Web Controller is ideal for remotely switching inputs, accessing shortcuts, updating titles, and more.

Getting Started

To get started, go to settings and choose Web Controller. First, check that the Enabled checkbox is ticked to activate this feature. The Web Site Address shown in the “Web Controller” settings area is what you need to access to the controller. Copy and paste it into the web browser of the computer you will be using. You can add additional security by assigning a username and password. As long as the password field is blank, no password will be required to log in. If you enter a password, you can give specific access to devices without logging in. This is helpful if you want to provide user access to only some features of the controller.

The Interface

Once you enter the web address into the device’s browser and log in if necessary, you will see four screens represented by icons. Those screens are shortcuts, controller, tally lights, and title editor.

Controller

The next icon will open the controller page. This gives you a fully functional switcher, just paired down for size. Instead of full images and descriptions of the inputs, each input is designated by number and a letter representing it. For example, a camera on input 1 would be labeled C1, a title on input 2, T2. The top 2 rows represent the Preview and Output windows. The green square will represent what is live in the output window. A yellow square represents what is currently in preview. Across the bottom of the page, you will see all of the standard transitions. Tapping one of those buttons will move the input from preview to output using the selected transition. The next four rows represent the overlays, which can be activated with just a touch.

Shortcuts

On the shortcuts screen, you will see all the shortcuts you created in the shortcuts editor in vMix. If you wish to limit which shortcuts show up on the web controller, you can tick or untick the Show in Web Controller Box for each shortcut you create. The shortcuts will behave the same way when activated from the web controller as they would from the vMix computer interface.

Title Editor

The final page is the title editor. This enables on the fly editing of titles that can update in real-time in vMix. You can select any titles already set up in vMix and change the text. When the title is changed, and the Update button is pressed, it will immediately change the title even if it is in the live window. You can also add presets to quickly switch between different text for that title input.

Tally

The third screen is the tally light screen, which allows you to turn any mobile device into a camera tally light to help talent know which camera is live. By going to that screen and selecting a camera input, the screen will light up yellow when that camera is in preview and green when that camera goes live to the output.

In this lecture, we review how Virtual Sets work. We have an entire course on virtual sets which you can learn how to build these set in more detail. This is a basic overview of how virtual sets work with a green screen and chroma key background. 

A big part of making your live production look great is making sure your colors look realistic and match from camera to camera. vMix includes color correction tools that are advanced enough for color optimization experts yet simple enough that average users can improve their productions' overall look. Color correction tools are available on every video input, including cameras, videos, and images.

Basic Color Adjust Tools

Those who just wish to make basic color adjustments may be content to work with the basic color adjust tools. They can be accessed by clicking the gear icon on the selected input and choosing Color Adjust. From this menu, you can adjust the black level, brightness, transparency, and saturation. You can also independently adjust the level of red, green, and blue. An auto white balance feature is also available.

Pro Tip: Most cameras can look better with just a bit of black stress applied to their video feed from the “Colour Adjust” area of vMix.

Advanced Color Correction

For more color control, select Colour Correction from the input settings menu to access the professional color correction tools. The interface offers control over the lift, gamma, and gain. The lift adjusts the dark areas of the image, the gamma impacts the colors in between black and white, and the gain adjusts the bright areas of the image.

The most basic function on this menu is the Basic Auto Correct button that attempts to set the lift and gain controls to their optimum setting. Also found on this page are several reset buttons shaped as a circular arrow to undo any settings that you would like reverted to default.

Color Wheels

The color correction tools inside vMix have three (3) wheels which are used commonly in video editing software. The first wheel represents the blacks (shadows) also called lift. The second wheel represents Gamma or mid tones and the third wheel represents the highlights and overall brightness of the image. Each wheel adjusts a particular part of your video image. The first wheel can be used to work with dark areas, the middle wheel works on areas which are usually skin tones and the final wheel is for the highlights and the brightness. Using the three components of the color correction wheels allows operators the ability to do fine color correction in an intuitive layout. You can use gain control, for example, to adjust the yellows just in the highlight of an image.

An adjustment can be made on the color wheel by dragging the circle to the desired location. Adjustments can be made to all colors equally by using the Luminance/Brightness bar to the wheel's right. Hue and saturation can be adjusted using the bar below the wheels.

Color Bars

By clicking on Display Color Wheels at the top, the view will be changed to color bars. The red, green, and blue levels can be adjusted independently for lift, gamma, and gain.

Also, at the top of the screen is a preset button that allows you to save and recall presets. This is great for saving your color correction settings once you get them as you want them.

What is a Vectorscope?

A vectorscope is a circle that represents the color of your camera image. It’s like an x and y graph representation of the color accuracy of your live video feed. At the top of a vectorscope you have red, toward the bottom you have cyan and there is also a green similar to what you have seen in color correction software. The vectorscope graph allows you to see the balance of the colors coming from your live video camera. To accurately tune your camera you can put up a color chart in your space and zoom into it with your camera. The vMix color chart will produce lines that connect your current image with the ideal colors. A vectorscope is a tool that is ideal for live video color correction without having to rely on your own eyes and inaccurate monitor representations of your video camera's image. The vectorscope is all about color and provides us with tools to accurately adjust our camera settings ideally on the camera side first. Once the camera has been accurately tuned the finishing color corrections can be done in vMix.

What is a Waveform Monitor?

For those with color correction experience or those who want to learn, vMix also includes several types of waveform monitors. The waveform monitor is the counterpart for the vectorscope available to handle brightness and exposure. With a waveform monitor, you can easily see if your image is clipping at the top or if the blacks are getting crushed. The waveform monitor will allow camera operators the ability to adjust the image preferably in the camera first to ensure your image has a good exposure.

Using the waveform monitor to influence your camera settings adjustments, you want your camera’s image to be within the lines of your monitor. You can use vMix to make sure your video has perfect whites and blacks using the tools as needed.They can be accessed by clicking the small color bar box on the right. Each of the waveform monitor options can be viewed in a split-screen with a preview of the input or in a full screen independently. These are essential for completing precise color correction adjustments. Using the slide on the right, the zoom level of the image can be adjusted. Users can make adjustments to the color setting wheels and bars while seeing the precise impact on the waveform monitors. This can often help even novices detect and correct color issues.

Color Correction Presets

Another tool built into the vMix color correction tool allows users to save preset files that can be uploaded to other vMix inputs. This preset information can be useful for color matching cameras from different manufacturers. The preset will save your white balance information and can be applied to any input in vMix. These presets may not get your image 100% corrected because every camera's exposure will be slightly different.

Pro Tip: One of the key things with color corrections is starting with exposure and color settings inside the camera. Many times the highlights can be blown out before they even get into your video production software. Using a vectorscope and waveform monitor you can bring down the range of your camera to make sure that you are not clipping your sensor's full potential. These tools help you make sure that you are not crushing the blacks or overexposing the whites with the settings in your camera. The waveform monitor specifically allows users to stretch the exposure to the perfect white and black settings.

Input Video Preview Options

Underneath the colour correction tools you will see the live video preview of your input. On the right side of this interface you will see options for changing this video to see the Waveform Monitor, Vectorscope and various combinations that include a live video preview. You can also apply video standard grids for SMPTE, square and vertical video for monitoring.

NDI stands for Network Device Interface and it is a high quality, video-over-IP standard developed by NewTek to enable video-compatible products to communicate, deliver, and receive high-definition video over a computer network ideal for live video production.

What is NDI used for?

Many video projects use NDI to send and receive video over IP. NDI features an auto-discovery feature which makes managing video sources available on a network very easy; for example, a church may use NDI to send PowerPoint slides from one computer and receive them on another computer used for live streaming. Another example would be setting up a display in an office to show an NDI source coming from a video production software like OBS. Any Windows or Mac computer can receive the NDI video stream and display it on a TV located in a facility.

NDI or Network Device Interface is a powerful way to share video content across a local area network. The protocol, developed by NewTek, opens up new production possibilities, and with vMix, it is easy to both send and receive video via NDI. Not only can vMix share cameras, video, audio, and graphics to other vMix devices, it can both send and receive from any devices or software that support the NDI protocol.

Adding the Source

First, be sure that your vMix computer and your NDI source are connected to the same network. Adding an NDI source in vMix is just as simple as adding any other source. Just go to Add Input and select NDI. You will see all of the computers and devices on your network that are connected via NDI. Under each computer or device, you will see any available NDI sources. At the bottom, you will see two checkboxes. One will select only the audio from the source. The other will receive the source in low bandwidth mode. Just click on a source to add it as an input. Once you have the input setup, you can change it to another NDI source by just clicking on the input and selecting the source.

Using the NDI Source

Once the source is ready, you can use it just as you would any other video input. You can toggle the audio on and off, preview it, or send it to an overlay channel. By clicking on the gear icon, you can access the full settings menu. When you open the settings, you will see that the NDI source settings are very similar to the settings on a directly connected camera and can be adjusted the same way. You can change the name for easier reference, set the mouse click behavior, mirror it, sharpen it, and enable or disable the automatic audio mix. You also have access to color correction and the ability to set up a chroma key if the source is set up with a green screen. You can make position adjustments, add it to a multiview, and even set up triggers and tally lights.

Pro Tip: Unlike normal inputs, you can right click inputs to quickly switch one NDI source to another.

Bandwidth Matters

One important thing to consider with NDI is network bandwidth. While NDI sources are local and don’t require internet bandwidth, they still need sufficient internal network bandwidth. For the best results, be sure you are using a gigabit network.

Note: NDI stands for “Network Device Interface” and NDI® HX is the “High Efficiency” lower bandwidth version of NDI. NDI features a combination of high quality video with low latency transmission that is ideal for live video production. NDI|HX is ideal for broadcast professionals adding NDI sources to an existing network that has not been originally designed for video production. Here are some example networks that are ideal for NDI|HX video sources.

Tip: Network Bandwidth head room recommendations can vary widely from 30% - 60% depending on what the network is utilized for. Please consult your network administrator before adding NDI sources to your local area network. Newtek suggests “NDI traffic should not take up more than 75% of the bandwidth of any network link.”.

Sending NDI from vMix

Keep in mind that it is also simple to send NDI across your network from inside vMix. Just go to your Settings menu and select Output. You can then easily assign any of your output to send an NDI signal from your Output, Preview, MultiView, or any input source.

What is an NDI Camera?

NDI cameras are able to communicate using the Network Device Interface or NDI protocol. They can connect to a LAN (Local Area Network) and seamlessly integrate with hundreds of software applications including OBS, Wirecast, vMix, xSplit, NDI Studio Monitor and much more.

What is an NDI camera used for?

NDI cameras often have PTZ (Pan, Tilt and Zoom) functionality which takes advantage of the two-way communication capabilities of NDI. In this way, NDI cameras can be controlled over the same single ethernet cable used to send audio and video. For example, a PTZOptics NDI camera can use a single ethernet cable to power the camera, control the PTZ functionality of the camera, and to send audio and video to a source on the network. PTZ camera controls inside of vMix will be reviewed in an upcoming chapter.

What is the difference between NDI and SDI?

SDI is a technology that has been around for decades. SDI stands for Serial Digital Interface, and the cable itself is capable of sending uncompressed video long distances. NDI is a much newer technology that uses the latest video compression methods to make sending and receiving high-quality video possible over standard computer networks. An SDI camera video feed can be converted into an NDI stream and sent over the network. An NDI video feed can also be converted into an SDI video output and plugged into a monitor.

How do I set up an NDI camera?

Most NDI cameras are plug and play when it comes to setup. NDI cameras can be plugged into any LAN (Local Area Network) and configured to operate with any software or hardware solution that supports NDI. Once an NDI camera is plugged into the network, it will show up as an available source on your network; therefore, the friendly NDI name that you give your camera will show up in any software or hardware solution when you click the “add NDI source” option.

A great way to automate your productions in vMix is by using the playlist feature. This feature allows you to create a playlist of inputs and automatically transition between camera, videos, and other inputs you have created.

Getting Started

Once you have your input sources set up in vMix, click on the gear icon next to the PlayList button at the bottom of the interface. This will bring up the PlayList dialog box. Click New PlayList and give it a name. If you have an existing playlist that you would like to work from, you can check the Copy Current PlayList box. Once you have multiple playlists, you can select the one you want to work with from the dropdown menu in the dialog box's upper right corner. Keep in mind that playlists are connected to presets. So, if you want to save your playlists, be sure to save your preset.

Adding to the PlayList

Adding inputs to the playlist is as simple as clicking on the available inputs in the left window and then clicking the right arrow. Remove them from the playlist by clicking on the input in the right window and click the left arrow. Once you have multiple inputs on the playlist, you can select any one of them and move them up and down in the list.

Adjusting Input Settings

Once you have added your playlist items, you can click on them to adjust their individual settings. This will open another dialog box. For videos, you can set the starting position to the point in the video you want it to begin. You can also set the duration. For videos, this would set how long the video would play after the starting point. For cameras or other sources, this determines how long the playlist will stay on this input before moving to the next item. You can set the transition type to any of the available vMix transitions and set that transition length. Finally, the display type will determine whether the input will be shown in full screen or assigned to one of the pre-configured overlay channels. Now we can click OK and repeat this process for each of our inputs.

Pro Tip: If you choose inputs with PTZ camera presets, you can effectively automatic PTZ camera operations. In this way, you can have cameras move to various locations with PTZ presets that are called in a looping playlist.

Changing PlayList Settings

When we are done configuring our inputs, we have a few more options in the PlayList dialog box. At the bottom, you can choose if you want the playlist to loop. Ticking the Begin from Selected item box will begin the playlist from any selected input instead of from the beginning of the list. Clear overlays will clear any overlays on the inputs between transitions. Finally, manual mode will keep the playlist from advancing from input to input instead only advancing when the previous and next buttons are pressed. When you are done, click close.

Starting the Playlist

To start the playlist, just click on the PlayList button at the bottom of the interface. If you want the option of making adjustments or manually advancing the playlist, you can simply click the gear icon again to reopen the PlayList dialog box.

vMix offers several options to add dynamic content to your live productions. One of them is vMix Data Sources. With data sources, you can import data from sources like spreadsheets, RSS, JSON, plain text, and XML. Even better, this data can be updated in real-time to your live production.

Getting Started

To get started, find the hamburger icon on the lower right of the vMix interface and click on Data Sources Manager. Clicking on the plus icon in the upper left corner of the dialog box will reveal the different data sources you can use in vMix. Clicking on a source type will open up a dialog box with the information for that source. For local files like Excel or CSV spreadsheets or text files, you will have the opportunity to browse for the file on your computer or network. For online sources, the dialog box will ask for a URL and any other information necessary for access.

Once you have selected your data source, entered the necessary information, and click OK, the onscreen table will begin to populate. Now that we have our data, we can assign it to a title to bring it into our production.

One great example for using Data Sources is Google Sheets. You can have someone manage a Google Sheet table with various fields of data that you need updated. You can then integrate Data Sources with Google Sheets and pull that data directly into your vMix titles.

Adding a Title Input for Your Data

Go to Add Input and select Title from the list on the left. Choose Title from the tabs across the top and select a title that works for your information. Optionally you can create custom titles using the GT Title Editor. Then click OK. This will bring up another dialog box where you can link your data to this title. In a simple title, there will be fields for headline and description. Starting with the headline, click on Data Source at the top of the box. In this dialog box, choose the type of data source you are using. If you have already set it up in the data source manager, the table name will be brought in automatically.

Depending on the type of data you are using, you may want to leave the column and row settings as they are or customize them for your needs. By default, this will initially pull the first column and row. When you are done, click OK. You can choose which row of data you would like your titles to use via Data Sources by clicking on the row. You can also choose to have the data loop through the rows.

Now go and do the same for the description. Leave the column on auto if you want the second column to appear since the first was used for the headline. You can also manually select the column you wish to use. When you are done, click OK.

Formatting Your Title

Your title will now appear in the input section. You can click on it to see it in the preview window with your data. With the title editor still open, you can make format changes to the text in your title. Using the buttons at the top, you can change the font and adjust the size and color.

Additional Settings

There are a couple more settings within the data sources manager that will impact the data's behavior on your title input. Go back to the data sources manager. At the bottom of that box on the left is a button for Auto Next. Click this and set the time if you would like it to move down the rows at set intervals updating the data. You can also set it to loop if you would like it to start over when it is done.

On the bottom right, you can select the update interval. This is useful if the data from your source is being regularly updated. For instance, if someone is entering new data into the spreadsheet you are accessing, this number will determine how often it checks for changes.

vMix Triggers can add powerful automation sequences to your live productions. This becomes especially important for complex productions with a single operator. The producer will not need to remember every single cue and function since many can be done automatically through triggers.

Triggers can handle anything from adding overlays after a transition to multiple-step processes that will run much of a live show for you. Some examples of common uses include a trigger that starts recording and turns on the microphones at the end of a countdown sequence. Another could be used for switching to the primary camera when a video ends. There is really no limit to what you can automate with triggers.

Triggers are very similar to shortcuts. They both start with a function. With a trigger, it is the press of a key or button that begins the function. With a trigger, the function is started automatically when some condition is met. Shortcuts and triggers can be used together with a shortcut starting a sequence that continues automatically through triggers.

Setting Up a Trigger

Setting up a trigger in vMix is pretty straightforward, and it is done through the input settings. Select the input you would like to work within the input section and click on the gear icon in on the lower right. Once the settings menu for that input is open, click on Triggers on the left column. If you have any triggers already set up, they will be listed here.

Under the trigger list are the fields for setting up a new trigger. The first column is the actual trigger which is the event that starts the process. If you click the dropdown menu, you will see that triggers can include OnCompletion, OnTransitionIn, OnTransitionOut, OnOverlayIn, OnOverlayOut, OnCountDownCompleted, and three audio triggers.

OnCompletion is perfect for triggering a function when something, like a video, is finished. The transition triggers are based on fading or cutting to an input. The overlay triggers work when an overlay is activated or turned off. With the countdown trigger, you can attach a function to the completion of one of the built-in countdown timers. The audio triggers are relatively basic and can trigger a function when an input audio source crosses a dB threshold.

The second column lets you set the function that will occur for that input when the trigger occurs. You can choose from hundreds of functions by clicking on the dropdown menu and selecting the category on the left side. In the next column, you can choose the source used for the function. For instance, if the trigger is set to transition from your input source, this is where you would choose what it should transition to. If you are using any sort of transition function, the next column lets you set the duration. The next column allows you to set the delay before the function takes place.

You can set up multiple triggers on each input and easily change the order in which you wish them to happen.

There is one crucial thing to keep in mind if you are using MultiView of layered inputs. Even if triggers have been enabled, they will only work on the primary layer. That means if you create an input with triggers and then include that input in a MultiView input, those triggers will not function. You will need to add triggers to the MultiView input itself.

In this video, we demonstrate just how easy it is to bring professional video production software and hardware directly into a video conferencing software like Zoom. There are basically three audiovisual aspects of this process. The video or webcam. The microphone source and the speaker source.

For our video source, we use a virtual webcam output from our video production software. From vMix this means that we are going to use the external feature. Once this feature is on we can simply bring the video into Zoom video conferencing from the camera option.

For the audio source, you can use a virtual audio cable. Alternatively, you can use an HDMI capture card with the audio and video captured together. In this way, you can convert HDMI to USB and bring those audio and video sources into Zoom. Finally, for our speaker output, we are using in-ear monitoring systems. This is important because we do not want to create an audio loop with the professional headset microphones that we are using.

With all of that in line, we have the ability to create incredibly professional-looking zoom video conferencing webinars.

Stingers and transitions allow you to effectively transition from one shot to the next. In this lecture we will review how to use transitions and even make your own. 

Video Lists allow you to create a collection of video files and use them as a single input. 

As you may know we are heavy green screen / virtual set users. We use a virtual set for our live shows on Friday on YouTube Live and many of our videos. You may have seen that we just built an in house studio, but we haven’t stopped using a green screen. In fact, we are starting to use a multi-camera, multi-set layout for our live show and I this week was the first time we used a multi-angle virtual set.

Before we start explaining our setup I wanted to give credit to Virtual Set Works who’s virtual sets we are using in this demonstration. We are also using vMix to bring in the virtual sets and do the panning and zooming. We have been using vMix virtual sets from Virtual Set Works from a long time and this particular virtual set is from the Virtual Set Works: Volume 7 package. The process of setting up these virtual sets with multiple angles simply involves adding two or more inputs as virtual sets.

As you can see from the picture below our vMix preset has two different virtual sets with different angles to allow us to transition between these virtual sets. So let’s start with what a virtual set is. A virtual set is a background and foreground with your “talent” video which is a camera input that has a “Chroma Key” applied. A chroma key is usually used with a green or blue screen and is applied to a camera input that has your subject in front of the well lit colored background. The biggest problem our users have with virtual sets and virtual background is usually lighting for the set. Chroma Key technology is very accurate as long as your camera image is accurately portraying the content.

Live streaming is all about audience engagement. Watching the chat room and responding to your audience is essential. In this video, we discuss some of the new ways to integrate data from social media outlets, forms, polling and other data driven display methods into your live stream. 

As you may have seen, we are doing a lot with vMix data sources and it’s been a fun ride learning about what can be done with live data in our video productions. One of our long-term goals is using live data to power a 24/7 live stream on YouTube that allows users to automatically interact with the live stream. We have also generated a starter kit for anyone interested in learning more about building what the industry calls an “Audience Response System”. You can download our vMix Data Sources jump start kit here – ptzoptics.com/landing/audience-response.html.[=]''''''''''''}

We have found that Google Sheets are one of the easiest ways to bring in data into vMix Data Sources. We like using Google Sheets because it was a great integration with Google Forms allowing us to populate the google sheets with information from our audience and then into vMix Data Sources. But, we are also testing out some of the other ways to use vMix data sources such as RSS, XML, JSON, CVS and Text files.

A couple examples we showed on our last live stream demonstrating vMix Data Sources is displaying a list of the latest YouTube Subscribers and a live count of our total subsribers. We also, asked our audience to submit a custom google form that asked what their favorite bands were from the 80s, 90s and today. This information was then displayed in custom vMix titles that we created to display our vMix Data Sources inputs. As you can see, one question asked live viewers to rate their favorite live streaming platform: Facebook, YouTube, Twitter or Instagram. We also, used vMix social to bring in pictures from social media outlets.

The best part of this presentation is that you can use this audience response system with your favorite live streaming software… New Integrations from the NewTek NDI, NewBlue TitleFX and vMix Data Sources are making data ingestion for live streaming easy!

In this presentation we will review:
1. Finding usable data
2. Creating custom titles to display that data
3. Social Media Integration
4. Live voting and polling
5. Services you can use & Audience Response Systems
6. Live streaming with your data