A new way of thinking broadcasting with TouchDesigner

The VSH-participants have developed reusable software components and production tools with the use of the development platform TouchDesigner. Each of the components are basic building blocks that might not have a lot of value isolated, but all together they can virtualize media production and make live video. At this moment there are 24 components including well known tools like color correction, teleprompter, an audiometer, and a video tool. Each component comes in a small package on Github with an explanation of what it is, and how to use it combined with an example.

24 components now – more to come

As mentioned the different components are made in TouchDesigner, which is an ideal platform for innovation. The programming language here does not restrict the components to how they are pre-designed. It’s flexible, scalable and capable to create custom user interfaces.

“If a hardware panel is limited to just eight channels, you will need to purchase a completely new panel in case you wish to have more channels on it. This software allows you to customize the number of available channels precisely to your needs without having to purchase new equipment.” - Hendrik Vandeput, Software Engineer Freelancer at VRT

Put another way... If a button doesn’t perform the exact way you want, it is easy to change the button to do exactly what you want. The interface allows the user to put each knob, button and slider exactly where they want to. And that' s exactly what makes it so unique. It’s a compromise between a fully defined ready-to-use product and creating everything from scratch in a low level programming language. Having virtually no limit in what you can do but also being able to quickly use premade components for simple tasks. This is usually not something you can do in one platform.

Everybody has access

The components are all found on the open-source platform Github, which works as the code hosting platform in the cloud. With Github it has never been easier to share code, and collaborate with people all over the globe. And with the software in the cloud, it’s easy to make your own control room from your laptop without leaving home.

“Instead of replacing the existing systems, it' s a matter of challenging them. In traditional terms, TV broadcasting is all about building a very robust infrastructure with large servers to ensure you never go off the air. However, putting everything in the cloud with flexible software components while maintaining low costs makes it so attractive.” - Floris Daelemans, Innovation Researcher at VRT

In a Belgian kids program on the TV channelKetnet from VRT, called “Wie Wordt Wrapper”. Here the participants got heart rate monitors strapped to their chests, and the data got converted straight to the screen so viewers could follow the participants while watching the show.  VRT has been using components from TouchDesigner for multiple smaller productions now. 

Community is key

For the Video Snackbar Hub participants it's important to emphasize the essence of the project. With this project, they hope to inspire as many technology innovators as possible to try out the Github components. Feedback is extremely important to further refine the LIVA-project components.

By offering these small tools to the public, any interested party can download and combine the pre-built tools with the exact setup they want/need. Once they find an error in a tool they are using, or if they update the functionality, they can upload a revised version that will be available (read updated) for the next one. Find here how to set up a virtual machine in the cloud, with the developed technology from the LIVA-project. 

Article written by Diana Carvalho Freitas