Alternate Output Presentations
Dan Willard
Thanks for your request. I completely understand your situation. This is something we are trying to work with as other users want the same thing. However, there are other users that don't want presentations to mirror the main output, and even others that sometimes want it to mirror and sometimes not. This is something that our developers are trying to find a way that will work for everyone in any situation. Thanks for your patience while they try to get that figured out.
In the meantime, there is kind of a way to accomplish what you want to do. You will have to make your presentations a little differently. Alt out will not display any foreground elements (videos, images, text boxes, shapes) unless they are part of the Alt out default theme. Since you have different images and videos on different slides, a theme will probably not work well for you. The Alt out will display 'media slides' meaning if you're in the editor and click on the Media button on the toolbar and drag and drop a video or image onto the left side under words or slides tabs, it will create a media slide and that will display on the Alt out and Main out. But, you won't be able to add any other text or anything to those slides.
I was so excited that an alternate output was available that could function as an NDI source since we use NDI to feed our EW output to our livestream system. However, we have a similar issue. The new option is great for lower thirds views of Scripture or song lyrics, but the fact it ignores backgrounds and images in presentations renders it unusable for us, even with the workaround. Just seems strange to basically not be able to present the presentation just as it was created...surely that's more in demand than leaving elements out...and would seem simpler to implement. For now we're back to using 3rd party workarounds. Hope this is fixed soon!
I agree with Simon. If default theme is selected for AltOut (song, scripture, presentations) then it should mirror the main display.
As a workaround, depending on what you use for livestreaming, you can download the latest NDI Tools. It has a screen capture tool in it. As long as the life stream computer is on the same network as the EW computer, it will see the FOH screens as another input to be selected when the time is right. It will also recognize the alternate output on EW as well.
Did the EW team ever come up with a solution for the different ways people need presentations to display on the alt output? We are trying to ditch powerpoint but finding it difficult because we need to be able to display our pre-service announcement loop full screen on the alt output. Powerpoint has been a good workaround for this. We can basically create slides in PPT any way we want with inline graphics, individual backgrounds per slide, etc... and It all displays without issue full screen on the alternate output. If we try to re-create our announcement loop in presentations we are limited to a single background for all presentations (baked in the theme) and we can't put graphics in the slide unless we make a single image an entire side on it's own. We could create the powerpoint and export the slides as images, then bring them into a presentation, but that adds a lot of extra steps and kinda defeats the purpose of it... We might as well just use PPT at that point.
It would be nice to have a "use alt theme" option on each slide... There could be something in preferences to change the default behavior, and then have the ability to change the setting on a per-presentation or per-slide basis... So you could have a default alt theme with transparent background used for presentations which are displayed during service and do not block anything, but you could also have an announcement loop that plays pre-service where "use alt theme" is disabled and it showed on the alternate output full screen just as it does on the main output.
I'm sure this is one of those things that sounds easier on paper, but coding it to do this is another thing entirely... but I feel like something like this would address most peoples needs when it comes to presentations and alternate output.
Unitychristianch
FEATURE REQUEST
How would you like the feature to work?
So the Alternate output is working great for songs and scriptures. I am able to live stream using the live feed as a background for the main output, while I am able to show awesome backgrounds in the sanctuary for both songs and scriptures using the alternate output. However, the presentation feature of EasyWorship (which was my favorite feature) is not able to be used with great quality anymore. I need the presentation alternate output to be able to mirror the presentation on the main output. I go through the time and effort to make these great presentations, using the presentation feature, with backgrounds, pictures, and motions/videos, I don't want there to even be an alternate to the presentation. I want it to show in the sanctuary just like it does on the live stream. I need the presentations to be able to show the exact same on both outputs.
Why is this feature important to you?
I run an announcement presentation slide that changes automatically every 20 seconds, each slide has a different background, many of the backgrounds are motions from the EasyWorship store. I am able to run the presentation with no problems on my main output, but when I try and run it with the alternate output, it forces me to choose a "presentation alternate output theme". This theme will be only one background for the duration of the presentation, with the words I typed, and if I have a slide that is just a picture or a motion video, the alternate output presentation won't show anything. I have a presentation for the speaker each service, their name, and a few pictures of them, I have the pictures fade in one by one, by creating a new slide in the presentation, with an added picture on each slide, and I use the fade transition, It looks great on the main output, but on the alternate output, none of this is shown; it just shows whatever background I'm forced to pick as an "alternate presentation theme" along with the words I typed. The alternate is great for songs and scriptures. but I just need the presentation to be mirror on both outputs.
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