Broadcast Graphics Design...Stunning broadcast graphics, innovative interaction and control © RT Software Limited 2020 RT Software Swift & Swift-TX Overview Broadcast Graphics Design

Stunning broadcast graphics,

innovative interaction and control

© RT Software Limited 2020 www.rtsw.co.uk

RT Software Swift & Swift-TX Overview

Broadcast Graphics Design

The intuitive Swift editor is packed with features allowing you to create

outstanding stock graphics for PC-based playout and automation systems

extremely quickly.

Familiar GUI for designers: Designers familiar with 2D design and CG

applications will feel immediately at home with a preview window,

scrubable timeline, keyframeable graphics, curves and scenegraph editors.

Quick tools (Tickers and Clock): Using our broadcast specific nodes, high

quality stock graphics such as tickers/crawls, and clocks can be created

extremely efficiently and quickly. Tickers are just a few mouse clicks away.

Playout test button: for previewing graphics and motions at any time during

the design cycle.

Links: A link contains the source and destination nodes, attributes and the

mapping between them. A classic use is to link the size and position of a

square geometry to a text's position and size. The geometry will fit the text

exactly, whatever the contents of the text. This is the only way to fit

geometry to a text (short of using user code) where the contents of the text

is dynamic (eg. in a ticker).

Data handling: Setup fields to retrieve content from live data at TX via the

Playout interface and / or external systems.

System Tools: Drag and Drop, Cut and Paste, Undo/Redo, Shortcuts,

Housekeeping, Performance and Diagnostic tools are all included.





Highest Quality Graphics

Swift graphics are the result of many years experience of broadcast

graphics, and is capable of producing advanced and capable graphics

of the highest quality. Swift enables the smart use of multiple channels

of live video, video clips, still images and audio, all combined to

produce the graphic look you demand Swift-TX adds functionality for

all graphics to be rendered using Live, RT Software’s extremely

performant rendering engine.

Support for design tools: Swift has excellent compatibility with the design

tools in use at most broadcasters, namely the Adobe Creative Suite

(Photoshop, Illustrator, After Effects and Premier), allowing the bulk of the

graphics design work to be achieved with familiar, industry leading tools.

Geometric text: Import TrueType Fonts into Swift either as geometry or

bitmaps. Geometric fonts give you the advantage that they do not pixilate

when they are scaled or zoomed. Such resizing can be performed dynamically

using animations.

Video capability: Support for up to 2 video input channels, multiple clips

within templates and built in editable DVE effects.

Layers: Run multiple graphics simultaneously, for example: a breaking news

ticker over squeeze back with a persistent bug. The number of layers is

technically unlimited so Swift can deliver all of the graphic elements you need.

Superior Rendering: The design visions achievable in Swift are made real in the

Live rendering engine on the playout solution. Field-rate rendering, anti-

aliasing and extruded text combine with sheer rendering grunt, giving more

polygons with more textures and more fills.





Swift-Tx is a fully self contained broadcast graphics solution running on a low cost,

broadcast specification workstation platform. It includes an editor for creation of

stunning graphic templates and a playout interface for selecting, populating,

previewing and controlling graphics to air. Output options include SDI SD, HD and UHD

formats.

The system can handle live multiple video inputs, allowing live video from external

sources to be incorporated into graphics, as well as the system to be used as a linear

keyer to provide composited video and graphics output direct to transmission.

Straps, tickers, tables & charts, full forms, promos, bugs, and squeeze backs are all

supported - meaning the system can be used for traditional overlay style graphics as

well as channel branding and playout center graphics. Its rich functionality means your

on-air graphics will meet or exceed the quality of traditional, expensive, discrete

devices.

Capable and intuitive, it is a feature rich product that is compatible with industry

standard 2D creation tools (Adobe CS Tools) and exceeds industry expectations for live

real-time graphics. In addition, 3D pre-rendered backdrops can be used within the

graphics to create the illusion of live 3D graphics. Quality, ease of use and the ability to

handle the most complex graphics scenarios come as standard.

Swift-Tx is also a future-proof investment. Upgrading to 3D graphics using

3d-Tx is simply a licensing upgrade, meaning users will take much of the look, feel and

methodology learnt on the 2D system into the 3D design world.

Combined Design and Playout Solution





Integrated Playout Control The intuitive Playout interface included with Swift-Tx is quick and easy to use,

requiring a minimum of user training. Users can tab between the Swift

Editor and Playout to make last minute design changes- even when on air.

Playout features include:

Graphics Select Tray: All graphics available to the operator appear here with

a name and a thumbnail for easy selection. Just drag and drop into the

stack window to create a rundown.

Stack Window: Selected graphics appear in a queue here ready for use. Any

graphic in the stack can be populated with user data and QA’d.

User input Window: User data is input here to allow last minute input of

content such as text, images or clips.

Preview Window: Check your graphics prior to TX.

Take: Will, by default, play out the next graphic in the stack, or a selected

graphic to air if rundown order changes.

Animate Method Select Tray: If a graphic includes multiple animation,

methods they can be selected here.

Data handling: Live data is passed into the graphic template prior to TX

either from the data inputs on the Playout interface, from a database or

from an external source over a network connection.

Options are available to provide external network based control in a variety

of ways including:

• Separate PC with its own Control application

• WebControl for control through an HTML5 browser

• Third party control applications





Architecture & Workflow

Typical Workflow

Creation

Using the Swift editor, Designers author templates to meet the specification of the

network or house brand guidelines. Swift can be hosted on the Tx System or on a lower-

spec edit station.

Template creation involves the use of approved graphical assets. Fonts, video files or still

images are combined to create graphic templates, which allow the dynamic insertion or

inclusion of text, image or video items when played to air.

Rules for dynamic content within a graphic template are set during the creation stage. This

content can come from automated sources, such as internal or external databases, data

feeds or by manual input by a playout operator when the graphic is selected.

Preview

Full preview of the following graphic (next-to-air or cued) is provided in the control

interface and is also available on a separate DVI or HDMI output.

This preview allows for any last minute changes or corrections to be made by the operator.

Playout

The resulting graphics template is saved and securely stored within a graphic project,

which is automatically accessed from the TX system by the included Playout interface, an

optional custom WebControl interface or third party automation solution.

In the manual playout environment, the templates created in Swift are selected, stacked,

and sent to air.

In the case of control by third party applications, RT Software’s optional infrastructure

tools, Repository and MediaWatcher automate the ingest and distribution of assets between

asset storage and render stations.





Working with external content

Swift Architecture Features

Architecture Feature Set

The following tables show the key features of the Swift broadcast graphics

editor. This is not an exhaustive list, so if your requirement is not shown here

then please contact us for advice.

Hardware and Operating Systems

Philosophy Broadcast quality workstation hardware from leading manufacturers (eg: HP, Dell,

SuperMicro) are all supported.

Operating Systems Please refer to the ‘Supported Hardware’ section of the RTSW website

Qualified Hardware Please refer to the ‘Supported Hardware’ section of the RTSW website

Font support Import native True Type Fonts (.ttf) or Unicode Fonts as either scalable geometry

or textured text bitmaps.

Image Support

Includes tga + alpha (recommended), png + alpha (recommended), tif + alpha,

bmp no alpha, and jpg no alpha.

Max size is 2048 x 2048.

Supported “in graphic” video

Standards All broadcast video standards up to UHD 50/60i

Clip Support

All popular video clip formats are supported natively with the included ffmpeg

codecs (see http://ffmpeg.org/general.html#Video-Codecs ). For broadcast use,

we recommend that MPEG 4 encoded files with a bitrate of at least 5000Kbit/s

are used.

The following wrappers are supported. Quicktime (mov), avi, mxf, and mp4

Video file formats include WMV1/2/3, Mpeg4 pt2, mpeg1, mpeg2, H264,

HuffyYUV, MJpeg, FLV, VC-1, DV25/50/100, and YUV420/2 (raw)

The Clip formats for alpha include QuickTime rle (QT Animation), HuffyYUV,

uncompressed RGBA, PNG single movie file (MNG), TGA Sequence, PNG

Sequence and TMV (RT Software internal format).

Recommended codecs with alpha channels for Quicktime wrapped movies

include Animation, PNG, TGA, and Planar rgb.

Internal video channels There are two video channels available.

Base architecture OpenGL2.0 compliant real time rendering environment with scenegraph

hierarchy editing.

Operating system Windows 10 64bit Pro

Native primitive support Inbuilt 2D primitives including squares, triangles, ellipse and circles,

Project level Features Preferences (local settings - video, audio), undo/redo, performance analysis,

debug, project cleanup, etc

Linked Object Values Link animation and/or data inputs on object values.

Graphics Transitions Assigned layers Logic can be applied to control transitions from graphic to

graphic. Unlimited Layers.

Data Inputs Data can be entered manually near to air by an operator, automatically

retrieved from local or external databases or provided by a feed.

Asset management Handled externally with ”Repository”. Easy import / export of graphics from

one project / system to another.

Independent Layers 2D scenes can be built of independent layers that can be individually ordered.

Texture Maps Multi-Channel support for Colour and Alpha

Rendering features Graphics are rendered at fields rate and anti-aliased

Styles Typically used to link fonts, font colour, font effect into a house or graphic

style.

http://ffmpeg.org/general.html#Video-Codecs





Ticker and Crawl tools Facilitated by the Ticker Node

Clocks System time (with an offset), elapsed time, countdown, external and multiple clocks

are all supported.

Graphics Nodes available

within Edit Includes – Audio, Alpha, Clip plane, Clock, Roller, Text, Ticker, Transform, Video

Screen

Output

Audio Features

Graphics Design Features Graphics Design Features (cont…)

Graphics Design Feature Set

Interaction Traditional 2D preview window with full on-screen manipulation and selection of

objects.

Materials Control of colour rgb/hsv and control of transparency.

Shader Editor For control of materials.

Images x, y position

Scale size and mip mapping level

TimeLine

The timeline view gives the user complete control over animation sequencing and

timing.Ability to set start/stop/duration of individual animations

Ability to cut/paste/copy

Animators

Keyframe animation of objects on scene. Ability to set duration and ease in / ease

out. Create and control animations on all values that appear within the editors.

Use bi-cubic spline, ramp, cyclic or step animators that can repeat or be dynamic

for both start or end values.

Methods Provision of on / off methods

Inputs Associate external data with node and animator attributes with data values being

passed from the playout system via MOS.

Text Tools

Comprehensive text tools, including:

• x, y size

• Controls for horizontal and vertical alignment

• Character/word/line spacing and autowrap.

• Styles including underline, bold and drop shadow

• Shading lighting and texturing.

• Text Overrun Prevention using a max x or y size.

Multi-Language Facilitated by left to right, right to left, and vertical text options for alphabets

such as Cyrillic, Chinese/Japanese and Arabic.

Audio Node

in Swift

Set up, animate and control audio (volume and mute) in a frame accurate manner

across 16 channels of audio in and out.

Embedded audio in clips Mono, stereo and 5.1 surround are supported. These can be 16/24/32 bit at 48 KHz.

Audio files Mono and stereo .wav files are supported. These can be PCM 16/24/32 bit at 48

KHz .

Multi channel input with

audio

2 channels of video are implemented at present with 16 audio channels per video

channel (32 channels of audio in total).

Video Output SDI SD, HD or upgradable to UHD

Preview Output In GUI or DVI / HDMI Output

Control Manual, network, third party or GPI





Summary

Tel: +44 (0)20 7384 2711

Email: [email protected]

For more information, please contact us:

RT Software Ltd

Unit 6, Hurlingham

Business Park

Sulivan Road

London, SW6 3DU

UK

Ease of Use Quality Architecture

Swift-Tx is an intuitive graphics solution, packed

with features allowing the creation of outstanding

stock graphics extremely quickly and linking to data

sources for dynamic content.

It is a fully self-contained solution offering creation

and playout capabilities from one system.

Live renders more polygons, with more materials

and with more effects in a like for like comparison

than anyone in the industry.

As a result higher quality, more engaging and

complex graphics can be reliably produced in real

time.

Engineered to deliver. High volume playout graphics

including channel bugs and idents, lower thirds and

straps, snipes, tickers and squeeze backs are all

achievable in the highest quality with assured

reliability.

Swift-Tx allows you to create and air the graphics that you demand to meet your channel

needs. Swift is simple to use and yet powerful with versatile data handling and control

capabilities. Swift-Tx can easily be upgraded at any time to 3d-Tx for an enhanced toolset

allowing the creation and playout of stunning 3D graphics.

Welcome to an easier world of playout graphics.

Documents

Broadcast Graphics Design...Stunning broadcast graphics, innovative interaction and control © RT Software Limited 2020 RT Software Swift & Swift-TX Overview Broadcast Graphics Design