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This ATEM (mini) Tips” series of short video tutorials for your Blackmagic ATEM hardware includes tips for all users, from beginner to advanced. Scroll down to see more in the series!

This is a collection of all PhotoJoseph LIVE shows, from the PhotoJoseph YouTube channel. Additional episodes are listed below!

Auto Load Graphic with Camera Angle Switch

Photo Moment - March 13, 2021

If you want a different graphic to come up with each camera angle automatically, you'll need to build a Macro to do that. And I'll show you how!

Need an ATEM Mini?

What this tip is about…

If you have time when producing a live show to load the next shot into the Preview, load the graphic into the Preview, and then bring it live — that's great. But you don't always have the time or luxury to do that! Plus, if you only have one Media Player (like the ATEM Mini, ATEM Mini Pro and ATEM Mini Pro ISO have), then you can't preview a different graphic anyway. So, macros to the rescue!

In this video tip, I'll show you how to create a macro that simultaneously changes camera angle and loads up the graphic that you want. This could be a lower third (someone's name), a team name, a logo, or anything else you can put in the Media Player!

When creating macros, there are some rules you need to obey. For example, macro assume nothing. For example… just because you're on CAM1 when you start recording the macro, that doesn't mean you don't have to record switching to CAM1. The macro only records what you do, so if you don't switch to CAM1 (even if you have to switch away first, then come back) the macro won't include that command!

Creating multiple similar macros though can get tedious, and are prone to error. So in the very next ATEM (mini) Tips, I will show you how to record just one macro, then build the other three using an XML editor!

📄 Full Video Transcript

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What is the best way to share a power point presentation with atem mini pro. Mine get blurry when I share as a erf
Head phone out
Hello sir how can to apply scrolling ttaxt in atme mini pro
External keyed video source
Thanks for the great tips! Once the macros are set, is there a chance to assign them back to cameras, so I can switch the cameras on the ATEM itself, rather than through the app?
@@photojoseph thank you 🙏
The only ATEMs that can control macros from the hardware are the Extreme models with 6 (8?) macro buttons. Unfortunately the buttons on the ATEMs have never been programmable. The other (and a better) option is to use Companion from bitfocus.io and an Elgato Stream Deck.
Dude, how are you?
Can I rotate the image without previewing the item?
For example: I hung my cameras, both of them, upside down, so the video was turned.
In the vmix, I rotated it, but in the atem preview (multiviews) they are upside down, how can I adjust in the best possible way?

Thanks in advance.
Some ATEM models have rotate in the upstream key but not all — you’ll have to check the software.
Can I change background of the live camera without using chromakey and supersource options
No
A great tutorial, to-the-point, really cleared things up for me.
You're killing it with these tips Joseph. So helpful. I'm trying to see if there is a way to import animations as lower thirds and my only thought/hack is to use my computer as a source and play a full screen QuickTime file that has a chroma key built in. I would use it in place of a picture and picture upstream and have it on a loop, etc. If you know of another way to do an animated lower thirds or any overlay graphic I would love to learn that.
That is one way. The other is to use a HyperDeck with dual outputs, and to render your animations in 4444. The fourth 4 is an alpha channel, and the HyperDeck will play the video on one output and the alpha/key on another. You set the key channel to be the key input you get perfect transparency in animations.
This is a great video! I am working on introducing lower thirds (not even with a camera switch) and I learned a ton. Thank you for making these videos!!
Awesome, Joseph, thanks so much! I was wondering: How would I make a macro that „only“ prepares such a new view setup (camera plus graphic) into the Preview, ready for a manual cut I want to make myself … 😳🤔
@@StefanWolfrum oh THAT auto. Sure. But look at it this way — if you can do it by hand then you can do it in a macro. It’s literally recording your button presses.
@@photojoseph Err ... yes, the AUTO key for cutting does this. But in the video the last step you make when recording the macro is the auto key that takes the DSK online, right? 😳
AUTO just swaps Preview and Program. That's all it does.
@@photojoseph I see. But doesn't the last "AUTO" just take the DSK live and the macro already took the Cam1/Cam2 live before? Does this have something to do with the "Transition Control", whether you have set it to "Program/Preview" vs. "A/B Direct"? We use "Program/Preview". (And in fact my use case is a bit different: I have two cameras in front of a green screen and want to switch from one – with Fill A from the Media Player – to the other perspective – with Fill B from the MP. 😉)
yeah definitely. Essentially you're doing everting in the macro EXCEPT hitting the "auto" button, which is what sends it to air!
Excellent! 🙏🏽
Hi, love all your videos. I go to tech conferences and record interviews. I use 3 cameras. One of them (CAM3) is just on the guest. I need to change the lwr 3rd for each guest. Do I need to create a new macro for each guest? Or does the macro load the graphic that's in the specific media player?
So i am trying to find out, if i could use the atem mini pro/iso with a portable modem with unlimeted data? @PhotoJoseph?
Yes, if you can connect it over the USB port it should work https://youtu.be/nTpumNis3uk
اريد شراء هذا المنتج من ابلاك ماجيك
Blackmagic doesn’t sell direct. Buy from a local or online reseller.
Hi !
is it possible to edit a label/text with macro ?
@@photojoseph i don't have any Atem for the moment :( thx
I don’t believe so. Try it!
I want to do this but thus was so confusing
ATEM needs to revise the macro recording procedure. There's no reason why, when a macro is enabled, it can't pick up all the settings that exist at that time. This removes the time-consuming and error-prone macro create procedure. A simple software fix. Think about it, ATEM.
You're misunderstanding the way this works. Say I enable upstream key 1 (USK1), using media player 1 as a source, and place it in the top right at 50% size. Now I want that as a macro… so that's only four commands, right? But, what about all the other options… border, shadow, crop, etc.? Unless I explicitly tell them to be on or off, the way it works now, no action is recorded which means the state doesn't change. OK so you're saying that it should save the state of everything in the USK1 with a single click, right? Sure, maybe you could do that, but that would immediately break any further integrations that use USK1. I could have a macro that turns on borders for all USK and set them to blue. But now the macro I made before overrides that. And USK1 is just one of hundreds of things, most of which have dozens of options that would EACH need to have their state written into code. The way macros are intended to be used is quite simple — run these commands. End of story. If I don't tell it to run a command, it does not run a command. This allows multiple macros to work together to create incredibly complex setups. Example… you're doing an interview. Macro 1 places the four supersource squares into a specific position on screen that I use for all my four-up interviews. Macro 2 loads the appropriate background for this show. Macro 3 loads the lower thirds for these guests. If I need to change the name on a guest, by your method, changing the background would require running every single command just to change one element. Thousands of lines of code instead of one. That is very impractical, and would likely actually disrupt the event as things move (again) into position. The commands aren't executed simultaneously. It's line by line — very fast, but the last line does happen sometime after the first. And actually for many complex macros you have to build in pauses (sleep) to let something happen before starting another line (load CAM 1 into supersource 1 and position in this way and turn it on… if you turn it on and the repositioning isn't complete, you'll see a flicker as it builds). Macros are designed to make things happen, not to recall a state. I understand that you want this to be simpler, but that would greatly diminish the complexity that is available. This is not a new system. This has been around for a long time and is very, very robust. I've been using ATEM switchers for years and initially was frustrated at the way it works, too. But once I understood it completely, I realized that power in the way that it is. Also — ATEM is the name of the hardware. The company is Blackmagic. Just FYI.
@@photojoseph Not at all. If you are storing, say, 6 settings that differ from default in your macro, only 6 settings need be stored, not a thousand. Each setting need be only a byte or two internally. Any remaining settings, should the macro designer want to save them, could be saved as defaults. Besides, a thousand lines of macro text code is trivial to store in today's flash or RAM memory. From an operator's POV, this would save a lot of time setting up a macro.
That would actually make each macro over a thousand lines long. It’s a different way of thinking and while I appreciate the desire for simplicity, this way is far more powerful once you really get into it.
Hi. I'm going to get an atem mini pro soon. I'd like to know if i can drag a still image on the media player and still find it selected after a reboot of the atem. Some say that atem doesn't save stills and everytime it is powered on you have to manually select the media into the media player (or even redrag everything into media pool). Could someone tell me how it work?
You're welcome Daniele. And yeah, I'll add this to my video line-up. It's a simple thing but would be good to have a video on. The original ATEM Mini can't do the save, and I don't know that I even know why… maybe some kind of flash storage to save a startup state Anyway, Pro and above will do it. Glad I could help, and thanks for the sub!
@@photojoseph THANKS! Finally a pretty sure answer about it. Maybe it could be a good idea to make a video or something about this function, because yesterday i used an ATEM Mini (not Pro) and people complained about graphic "cut transition" as they just untick the eye on OBS on the same scene. So i explained them about stills but when i tried recalling it after a reboot everything was black again.
REALLY THANKS FOR YOUR HELP: +1 subscriber :D
Just verified — yes it works as advertised. The command is "save startup state".
@@photojoseph sorry. This was the video. I didn't even noticed you were the same person as i watched a lot of video about this topic. Let me know if the saving of stills into media player works
Every model from the Pro up has the ability to save graphics, by hitting the save command. This was added in an update a while ago. To be honest I haven’t tested it… I will. Respond to this comment again if I don’t report back in a few hours so I don’t forget. I’ll make sure it’s working. Sounds like a great mini tip, actually!
hi i got the atem mini pro and want to disable the FTB button... is there any way to do that? made a few mistakes on livestream by pressing it :(
Unfortunately no. I want that too!!
Great tip, Thanks.
Thanks, I was thinking about this feature recently
😊
My Macro never saves the chroma sampling function or adjustment. Is this a limitation with the ATEM or am I doing something wrong? My green screen lighting is inconsistent hence why I need to manually adjust it to get a good chroma keying effects. Any thoughts?
@@andremclean4433 nice to hear, thank you!
@@photojoseph its using the sampler that doesn't record. The sampler is quite useful when your lighting is inconsistent to give me that sharp chroma key. BTW... All your videos on the Atem Mini Pro have been quite useful. My Zoom call and presentation quality have been the main topic of conversation everytime. Especially when using macros to switch views and PIP and overlays etc. Thanks much.
Oh interesting; so the act of choosing a specific color doesn’t record? Or are you sampling from that weird picker, hoping to have it sample different values every time you run the macro? If so I’m not surprised that doesn’t work. If you’re trying to dial in a specific color though, when recording the macro, wiggle the HSL sliders to record those. That should work.
@@photojoseph I am.. it just never records the actual color selection to be able to make the screen perfect. The work around i have is select the color first manually.. then all other macros work fine when keying.
Are you changing the settings while recording the macro? Remember, it only does what you tell it.
How can you add a transition for the lt in the macro?
same way you do normally… build it in the preview, then AUTO (transition).
GREAT series!
Great Video, There aren't many videos covering pattern subject. Is it possible to customize the shape of the square pattern to parallelogram or trapezoid, By moving the outlines of the pattern? or is it possible to upload a complete customized pattern shape via photoshop?
What pattern are you asking about? The shape was made in photoshop and can be any shape. Watch the rest of this series; there’s a lot more than this to learn!
Thx Joseph! Love the tips
Thanks!
Just got my extreme ISO today. Ready to start getting it into production.
Awesome! You’ll love the next tip then… posting in an hour or so!
Super helpful series - thanks Joseph!
Any tips you want to see?
Creating LT's. I don't have PhotoShop. Can I export graphics from FCP to ATEM Media Pool?
Thanks
ps: I thought I heard that you are in Ashland, Oregon. I just drove through there and could not believe the damage done in Talent ! Hope you are doing well.
@@photojoseph Looking forward to the next informative ATEM mini tip. Always a very very helpful and with a piece of the puzzle that can be immediately implemented. Thanks for your wonderful spirit of giving and sharing of you knowledge!
Not from FCP… actually, maybe you can, hmm… you can export a PNG but I don't know if it'll honor the transparency. You'll have to try! However my very next video is about creating proper graphics using PSD or any other photo editor. And yes, Ashland. The fires were horrible. Started just a couple of miles from my home and studio, but the wind pushed it the opposite direction. We got lucky; thousands did not.
Hi is it possible u can do a tutorial about the new software update regarding tethering an iPhone?
It’s on the list!
Thanks for this tutorial! It’s quite useful! Regarding some ATEM questions: what would be the fastest way to edit a project created ATEM Mini Pro ISO in Davinci Resolve if it involves any kind of DVE/PIP content? As far as I know, this information is not saved on the Davinci Project, only on the mixed down version.
@@photojoseph thanks again for the pointer! Your new video has popped up today in my suggestions, so I took the time to double check all details. My Davinci Resolve version is 17.1 and the behavior both in Windows and Mac is identical (no PIP position recorded). I also checked the ATEM Control Software and it's the latest version 8.6. However, as I connected using ATEM Setup I discovered the switcher was configured using 8.5.2. I read the release notes for 8.5.3 and 8.6 and no changes seem to be related to this issue. Nonetheless, I have just upgraded the firmware to version 8.6 and I'll check again in the forthcoming days.
@@photojoseph thanks for your response and thanks for checking the video. By the end of the video, I check the versions of both parts. Resolve is 17.1 and ATEM Software Control is 8.6. I will double check the firmware version of the ATEM Mini, to make sure that the device is properly updated too and report back.
@@LaHoraMaker Sorry I missed this; comments with links get flagged as spam. I watched the video (just half way to where I saw that the PiP was full screen in Resolve) and my guess is that you need to update Resolve. Make sure you have the latest version of Resolve and the latest version the ATEM software installed on the ATEM itself. Let me know.
@@photojoseph Thanks for your response! I have been testing it this afternoon, recording a PIP camera over another input. The camera cuts are recorded, along with some keyframes, but I wasn't able to export or replicate the mixed output file. I created a video about the test, that might be useful for a future episode of ATEM mini tips: https://youtu.be/sFN5x9P26YU
It actually is saved! You get all the placement of the PiP in Resolve!
Thank you!
You’re welcome!
Joseph, I would love to see a tip on how you did the graphics on the super source you used during the The Three Men and a ATEM video. There was a BG, Super Source, and then you had a border. Was that one file? And then the lower thirds. A lot of graphics. It would be cool to get some details.
Thank you!!!
@@photojoseph Perfect, looking forward to it😀
That question will largely be answered in the next video, number 4. If you still have questions after that, please ask them there!
This is Fantastic !!!
thank you kindly!
nice ! keep going with this please :)
You got it!
Thanks for the new series, Joseph! Can you show us how to change existing macros? For instance if I wanted to insert a 0,5 second fade between switching camera angles.
Not the Pro… what’s the difference?
@@photojoseph Cool - You're a star! Different topic: Did you get your hands on the Hollyland 400S Pro already?
It’s actually on my list already. But to give you an early hint; record a new macro of just what you need (the pause), then edit the XML and combine them. Today’s tip #3 will show a little XML editing; releasing in a few hours.
excelent tip @PhotoJoseph
Thank you!
These are excellent!
It would be great if you could attach macros to the switcher buttons. i.e. when you hit button 1 do the switch then run a specified macro. The Extreme allows that for the 6 macro buttons so it should be possible for Blackmagic to do it for others.
One question: it can take some time for a macro to run (because of pauses) and you can loop a macro. Can you run another macro whist the fist one is still running?
We’ve been asking for the ability to reprogram unused buttons since day 1. I’m going to guess it’s not possible at the point. And no you can’t run macros simultaneously. That could be a recipe for disaster. When one is running if you start another, it immediately takes over and stops the first one.
I like how you've edited these videos: turning to address the camera. Subtle, but effective. If you get time to do a meta-tutorial, on how you light and film these, we'd love that. Great audio and exposure too.
haha thanks, that's not a bad idea for like episode 20 or 50 or something. I'm still refining it but also trying to keep it as simple as possible, so I can crank these out. And thank you — someone else disagreed with you and said it's <<a 'portrait chest enlargement stance' + that ''I'm looking at my monitor and back' impression looks just odd & feels cringy>>. I mean… it's a real demo. I'm actually recording, and looking at the camera when addressing the audience… but you can't please everyone! I'm glad I've pleased you though ;-)
Love the atem mini tips keep them coming.
You got it, more to come!
Always great information and tips and easy lo learn, thank you. 👍
Thanks for saying that!
This was an excellent way to introduce the marvels of macros. I look forward to Tip #003!
More to come!
How can you fix audio sync issues when using a macbook even when its running audio through the camera. Another great video would be the best way to route audio so things can be played from VLC while also running a zoom call.
But what’s not in sync, viewed where? The audio from the camera-attached mic and the video from that camera aren’t in sync? What does the MacBook have to do with it? That’s where you’re viewing the video? Via USB? In what software? Please book some time with me; your explanations just aren’t helping me to understand, sorry PhotoJoseph.com/1to1
@@photojoseph sorry I wasn't super clear on the macbook question. On a lot of my clients macbook pro 2013 15" models I cannot achieve sync with any means and even when using the audio from the camera it's in and out of sync. Seems to happen only on MacBooks.
You e lost me… what does audio from the MacBook have to do with video from the camera? To the second question… so you want to use one computer that’s both running a zoom call with the ATEM as the “webcam” and simultaneously play videos from the computer that go through the ATEM, right? Easy enough but not advisable. The “webcam” video view is down scaled to 720p or less in Zoom. It’s better to play videos through the screen share and check the “playing video” box. That optimizes for video playback. Unfortunately running an entire production through an ATEM for a zoom call is not going to give you the best quality.
I followed everything you said. Yet I don’t see it switch to the lower third when I select camera 2.
I’m going to go through this again,
Keep us posted!
Photo Joseph I want thank you from the bottom of my heart for these tips. I’m following your instructions on creating these lower thirds Macros. Thank you!! I would love to see a tip on setting up the 810 mini for live streaming with the 810 Mini Iso
Thank you Edward, that’s kind of you to say. There isn’t much to do other than punch in the stream key but I think that’s a great topic. Added to the list!
Is this only feature for pro and pro iso ? I mean the standard Atem Mini don’t have it ?
@@mathew_pang thanks man!
@@photojoseph thanks 🙏 u have the best Atem connect in whole YouTube 💪🏼 keep up the good work 💪🏼💪🏼💪🏼
Nope! This works on ALL ATEM models. In fact I recorded this demo using the original ATEM Mini.
Smart series. Thx!
Thanks!
Those L3 are sharp.
Haha thanks
Hy Joseph. Great series. I am using the atem Mini pro with one camera and a notebook with PowerPoint for webinars . Can I use the lower thirds on top of the chroma key use . So that my cam1 is in the PowerPoint and a lower third comes in ? Thx
@@losaltospolitico1 thanks for responding. I missed @natureone82’s reply.
I do this on my Pro. HDMI 1 is cam 1 of me. HDMI 2 is my laptop sending it s 2nd monitor to the atem pro - aka the PowerPoint show screen. The chroma key is using the DVE palette to set of a PIP of cam 1 on top of HDMI 2. The media player is set to the lower third. Bring in the LT using the downstream key - only accessible in the control software panel.
@@photojoseph thx for the tip. Just tried it and I believe it can’t work. In media player 1 is my background for the chroma key do I would need another for the lower thirds. With the extreme I could resolve the problem
If I’m understanding correctly, then yes — use both the upstream key and the downstream key together
Thank you so much. But I have question. Is there any way to save picture on ATEM. I mean when I turn on the device the picture saved in media player.
@@photojoseph I did that. But unfortunately, all setting saved expect pictures.
all models except the original Mini can do that since an update sometime last year. Make sure you have the latest version installed, then select "save startup state" (something like that) in the menu.
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