Automated Render Set

Caveat: You need to have Template Editor permissions. It may be sensible when naming new hooks, new templates or new template sets to add "TRAINING" as part of the name, to differentiate your work from 'live' production work. Do consider any 'Delete' actions carefully - is it your work you are deleting?

Automated Render Set

The Graphics

The renders you will be generating with your automated render set will be created using templates that are already in place, such as the 'Scorelines' template.

To be able to generate a 'Scorelines' graphic there are a number of tutorials that are broken down into manageable sizes - Part 1 thru to Part 5. There are also tutorials to create a 'New Single Card' template, a 'Single Substitution' template, a 'Substitutions' template and a 'Formations' template.

All the renders listed in the below image can be created with the click of one button.

Prerequisites

Prior to beginning this article, the user will need to have already completed the following articles:

XMLTeam Data Provider

Schedule condition hooks

'User Input Node' functionality

To show the true benefits of an Automated Render Set, you will need a number of templates in place, for example:

• Formations
  

• New Single Card
  

• Scorelines
  

• Single Substitution
  

• Substitutions
  

The Requirements

The requirements from the user side are to be able to use the Web Client and with a single button press generate a number of renders from more than one graphic, with each graphic having renders based on the available instances of the football match. When a graphic is able to create more than one option; such as the different points during a game available in a Scorelines graphic; then the user is able to choose to render a single instance or choose all the available instances are each rendered.

A Template Editor will need to use the Win Client to select the graphics to be included in the automated render set and set conditions as to whether the render for the graphic occurs.

As there may be ongoing work in the Win Client, it must also be a requirement that the automated render set ONLY uses graphics that are ready to be used - i.e. 'Published'.

Planning what to build

The user of the Automated Render Set will want a simple selection from the available templates and the ability to set whether the graphic produces the first instance based on data or all of the possibilities available, such as the different points during a game available in a Scorelines graphic (from Southampton v Leicester City 2018-08-25):

• Pre-match (v)
  

• Start (0-0)

• HALF-TIME (0-0)
  

• SOT Bertrand 52' (1-0)
  

• LEI Gray 56' (1-1)
  

• LEI Maguire 90'+2' (1-2)
  

• Full-Time (1-2)
  

The user could choose to only have the first instance, so only a render is produced for the 'Pre-match' option available from the graphics dropdown, or the user could select to render all the possibilities.

The user may also want the graphic to be used by an automated render set when certain conditions are in place. For example, the user may not want the renders from a scorelines graphic to occur until the football game is completed.

Fortunately, there are two ways to achieve this using the data supplied by the XML Data Provider. There is a node called 'event-status', which will give an indication of the status of a fixture, such as 'post-event' when the game is finished. The XML Data Provider also provides a second node called 'result-status', which is used to clarify how reliable the data feed is.

So, for example, when the information about a match has been fully confirmed and clarified, the node will state: 'certain'. The user can therefore simply set a condition ensuring the graphic is not rendered until one or more conditions are met.

The Template Set

You need to make sure your templates are all available in the 'TRAINING Match' template set. But first, you need to publish each template.

1. Below the main-tab TEMPLATES, select 'All Templates' and identify each of the following templates:
   

1. Formation Graphic
   

2. New Single Card
   

3. Scorelines
   

4. Single Substitution
   

5. Substitutions
   

2. For each of the above templates, below the sub-tab TEMPLATES and then below the PUBLISHING pane:
   

1. Click the 'Publish' button
   

3. Select the main tab TEMPLATE SETS, then select the sub-tab TEMPLATES
   

1. You can click 'Remove Template from Template Set' to remove unnecessary templates and below the 'Search All Templates' on the right-hand side you can add the required templates by clicking 'Add Template To Template Set'
   

1. Ensure 'Saved' is 'Active' (The 'Tick' is green)
   

NOTE - Below 'User Inputs' is a field 'Data Subset'. If you click within the field (it will probably be populated with "All"), a list may appear.

The field 'Data Subset' will become more relevant in a later tutorial and you will be able to return and select from a list of options. Rather than looking at all the 'soccer event-report' data available from the XML Data Provider, it is possible to restrict the data returned to specific settings, such as data that only relates to the English Premier League (EPL).

1. Below TEMPLATE SETS and below DEFAULT OUTPUT CONFIG, set the following:
   

1. Video Render = QT_FCP
   

2. Image Render = TIFF
   

3. Leave 'File Drop Location' as 'None'
   

4. Save
   

NOTE - The above options may not be available to you, you will need to select suitable render configurations.

The reason you set the above options is so the Template Set will then be configured to use those choices. When you want to trigger an automated render set, the system will need to know what output configuration to use. As it happens you can also set a different output config for each automated render set you make within a template set. More later!

1. Below the main tab TEMPLATE SETS and then below the sub-tab RENDER SETs, within the RENDER SET CONFIGS pane:
   

1. Click 'Add'
   

2. Accept the 'soccer event-report' dialogue
   

3. Save
   

2. Below TEMPLATE SETS, then below RENDER SETS, within the EDIT pane:
   

1. Rename: 'Match'
   

3. Below TEMPLATE SETS, then below RENDER SETS, within the EDIT pane, select the sub-tab TEMPLATES, which is split into two tabs: TEMPLATES and OUTPUT CONFIG. Select the TEMPLATES tab
   

NOTE - This pane is itself split into two panes TEMPLATES and CONTROLS.



4. First of all, you must set what data to check your automated render set against. In the field to the right of the button 'Analyse Graphic Permutations for Sample Data:', select the following: 'Sample Data - soccer event-report - Southampton v Leicester City'
   

5. Below the TEMPLATE SETS, below RENDER SETS, below EDIT, below TEMPLATES, within the sub-pane TEMPLATES:
   

1. You will find your templates. Beside each template is a greyed out 'Tick' icon, this will become green when ticked. Ensure 'Formation' is highlighted
   

1. Within the sub-pane CONTROLS there is a TICK box, adjacent to: 'Include in Render Set'. TICK 'Include in Render Set'
   

1. Default Option
   

2. Single Option
   

3. All Options
   

1. Change 'Selector' to 'All Items'
   

This graphic has user options to have the BBC logo or not and to either have a Team logo or not. The selector does change the contents of the graphic that would be rendered. It gives the user the ability to select each of the cards awarded by the referee during the match. 'All Items' would, therefore, generate as many renders as there were cards awarded.

1. Change 'Scorelines Selector' to 'All Items'
   

The selector does change the contents of the graphic that would be rendered. It gives the user the ability to select each of the fixed points during the match (e.g. 'Pre-Match') and any goals scored. 'All Items' would, therefore, generate as many renders as there are instances.

1. Change 'Subs Single Selector' to 'All Items'
   

The selector does change the contents of the graphic that would be rendered. It gives the user the ability to the select each of the instances when a substitution was made during the match. 'All Items' would, therefore, generate as many renders as there are instances.

The above image shows 'Default Option' for both the user option controls within the 'Substitutions' graphic and the below image shows the items both changed to 'All Options'.

1. Change 'Home or Away' to 'All Options'
   

2. Change 'Number of Subs' to 'All Options'
   

This graphic has a user option control to select either the 'Home' team or the 'Away' team. The user then has to examine how many substitutions were made, to then use a second user option control to select the number of substitutions made. Selecting 'All Items' would, therefore, generate six renders: '1 Sub', '2 Subs' and '3 Subs' for both the home team and the away team. Care would obviously be required to ensure ONLY the relevant render is used, as at least 2 renders per team would be superfluous.

You are nearly ready to see how many graphics would be rendered if the automated render set was used. But first, you need to set up an output config specific for this render set and clear out any renders that may already exist for this template set.

1. Below TEMPLATE SETS, below RENDER SETS, below EDIT and then below the OUTPUT CONFIG tab. You can set an output config specific for an automated render set. Set the following:
   

1. Video Render = QT_FCP
   

2. Image Render = TIFF
   

3. File Drop Location = Local Download
   

4. Save
   

NOTE - The above options may not be available to you.



2. Below TEMPLATE SETS and then below the RENDERS sub-tab. Any previously created renders will be detailed in the lower pane. Click 'Delete All Renders' (to the top right-hand corner of the lower pane)
   

1. Accept the dialogues
   

3. Using the Web Client, as a Template Editor:
   

1. Within the 'Templates' pane, select the 'TRAINING Match' template set
   

2. Ensure you select 'soccer event-report [Production]'
   

3. Within 'User Input Data', ensure 'Validate' is NOT ticked
   

Using your render set

1. Below TEMPLATE SETS and then below the RENDER SET sub-tab, click the 'Analyse Graphic Permutations for Sample Data:' button. A list is presented with 24 items
   

2. Examining what is in the above list, check the following is true:
   

1. There is 1 graphic for 'Formation'
   

2. There are 4 graphics for 'New Single Card'
   

3. There are 7 graphics for 'Scorelines' -- (Pre-Match, Start, Half-Time, Full-Time and the 3 goals)
   

4. There are 6 graphics for 'Single Substitution'
   

5. There are 6 graphics for 'Substitutions'
   

6. The text in the list was green and at the end of each line item it stated "[Ok]" (In white text)
   


Please note - your list may be ordered slightly differently to the image below.

NOTE - If the render already exists the text would be orange and the 'white' text would state "[Already Exists]". If the render cannot be done because a condition that is in place has not been met (more on this later in the tutorial), then the text would be red and the 'white' text would state "[Conditions Not Met]".

1. Within the 'Templates' pane, select the 'TRAINING Match' template set
   

2. Ensure you select 'soccer event-report [Production]'
   

3. Select the Southampton v Leicester City' sample data
   




4. Select 'New Single Card', click 'Click to create and edit a video graphic from this template'
   

5. Ensure the 'Drop' location is set to: 'Local Download Only'
   

6. In the 'Edit' pane, click 'Render QT_FCP'
   

7. Check the first item in the selector for 'New Single Card' (SOT-26'- Yellow -Hojbjerg) appears in the 'Render' pane
   

1. TEMPLATE SET > RENDER SETS, within the TEMPLATES tab, click 'Analyse Graphic Permutations for Sample Data:'. A list is presented with 24 items, the first line is yellow - as the render already exists
   


Please note - your list may be ordered slightly differently to the image below.

1. Within the 'Templates' pane, within 'User Input Data', tick 'Validate'
   

1. TEMPLATE SET > RENDER SETS, within the TEMPLATES tab, click 'Analyse Graphic Permutations for Sample Data:'. A list is presented with 24 items, the first line is yellow - as the render already exists and conditions have been met (i.e. Validate equals true)
   

2. TEMPLATE SET > RENDERS, click 'Delete All Renders' (and accept the dialogues)
   

3. TEMPLATE SET > RENDER SETS, within the TEMPLATES tab, click the 'Analyse Graphic Permutations for Sample Data:' button. A list is presented with 24 items, ALL green - as conditions have been met (i.e. Validate equals true)
   

1. Within 'User Input Data', UNtick 'Validate'
   

1. TEMPLATE SET > RENDER SETS, within the TEMPLATES tab, click 'Analyse Graphic Permutations for Sample Data:'. A list is presented with 24 items, 4 lines are red - as conditions have not been met for the 'New Single Card' graphic (i.e. Validate equals true
   

1. Within the 'Edit' pane, click 'Clear graphic', to empty the 'Edit' pane
   

2. Within the 'Templates' pane, there is a row with a double >> icon on the row called 'Match'. This is the automated render set. Clicking this row and/or the '>>' icon will action the automated render set - click 'Click to trigger this Render Set with Video Render Config: QT_FCP, Image Render Config: TIFF, File Drop Location: Local Download'
   

1. TEMPLATE SET > RENDERS, click 'Delete All Renders' (and accept the dialogues)
   

1. Within the 'Templates' pane, within 'User Input Data', UNtick 'Validate'
   

2. Within the 'Templates' pane, click 'Click to trigger this Render Set with Video Render Config: QT_FCP, Image Render Config: TIFF, File Drop Location: Local Download Only'
   

3. A yellow message will appear in the 'Render' pane: "Match: 20 new renders"
   

You have now set up your automated render set. You will now complete the exercise of applying conditions to your templates. You will set 'Validate=true' on the remaining templates and you will also set a new condition on all the templates so the automated render set cannot be actioned until the game has finished. As mentioned earlier in this tutorial, below the heading 'Planning what to build', fortunately, the XML Data Provider provides data that gives you two options:

• When the fixture is finished, you would need 'post-event' to be provided by the node: sports-event.event-metadata.event-status
  

• When the information about a match has been fully confirmed and clarified you would need 'certain' to be provided by the node: sports-event.event-metadata.result-status
  

1. Below TEMPLATE SET, below RENDER SETS, below EDIT, below TEMPLATES, below CONDITIONS, taking each template in turn ('New Single Card' is already done), add a condition:
   

1. Hook = 'User Input Node Hook.Validate', setting the condition to: true
   

2. Taking each template in turn, add a second condition:
   

1. Hook = 'Schedule Condition Hooks.Result Status', setting the condition to: certain
   

Because you have been using sample data for a known fixture, it is known that within the 'event-metadata' XML being provided, the information about a match has been fully confirmed and clarified, the 'event status' is 'post-event' and the 'result status' is 'certain'.

<event-metadata xmlns:bbc="http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/sports-data" date-coverage-type="event" event-key="EFBO987619" event-status="post-event" bbc:result-status="certain" event-status-note="Result" start-date-time="2018-08-25T15:00:00+01:00" bbc:event-type="Regular" event-name="Southampton v Leicester City" event-outcome-type="regular">
<event-metadata-soccer week="3" minutes-elapsed="90">
<time-adjustment period-extra-time-elapsed="6"/>
</event-metadata-soccer>
<site>
<site-metadata site-key="VFBB2370">
<name first="St. Mary's Stadium" full="St. Mary's Stadium" abbreviation="St. Mary's Stadium" bbc:vide-code="St. Mary's Stadium"/>
<home-location country="England"/>
</site-metadata>
<site-stats alignment="home" attendance="29925"/>
</site>
<sports-property formal-name="detail-level" value="1"/>
</event-metadata>

Because you UNticked the 'Validate' for the 'New Single Card', you also know none of the templates has met all the conditions. As a result, because both of the conditions on the templates have not been met the 'auto render button' will not generate any renders.

1. Using the Web Client:
   

1. Within the 'Templates' pane, click 'Click to trigger this Render Set with Video Render Config: QT_FCP, Image Render Config: TIFF, File Drop Location: Local Download Only'
   

2. A yellow message will appear in the 'Render' pane: "Match: 0 new renders"
   

You now have the ability to generate a number of renders using a number of templates for one match. Instead of using sample data, you could use any live data from a XML Data Provider. So long as the information about the fixture has been confirmed and clarified and you have ticked the fixture has been validated, your 'auto render button' will work.

Why have a 'Validate' process at all? When you created the 'User Input Nodes', in addition to the 'Validate' node, you also created nodes for 'Commentator', 'Home Team Kit' and 'Away Team Kit'. You could change the settings in 'Template Sets > Subsets > Subset > User Inputs' to include those nodes alongside 'Validate'.

You could then only set the 'Validate' node to 'true' (i.e. TICK it), when you knew the name of the 'Commentator' and the kit each team were wearing. To take advantage of the 'Commentator' node you would, of course, need to include a template in your automated render set. Whilst doing that, you could also add a template to use the data from the XML Data Provider to produce a render of the manager/coach for each team.

The two images below show the 'User Inputs' TICKed for 'Commentator', 'Home Team Kit' and 'Away Team Kit' and a template for 'Commentator' and 'Manager' added to your automated render set. Note - The 'All Team Selector' for the 'Manager' template has been set to 'All Items', as the graphic is capable of producing a render for the home manager/coach and the away manager/coach.

Wouldn't it be great if you could leave the automated render set to function on its own, so you do not need to wait for the match to finish to click the 'auto render button'? Well, you can - do the Creation of a Schedule article.