Live Presentation Webcasting with Wirecast

↑ Introduction

Vara Software Wirecast is an innovative new live web casting application. The application supports multiple live and file based sources. It supports sophisticated titling, compositing and transitions. This basic tutorial shows how Wirecast can be used to webcast presentations created in Apple Keynote.

↑ Exporting Keynote to QuickTime

Wirecast supports any file format supported by QuickTime. To use a Keynote presentation as a source for Wirecast, you must export it as a QuickTime movie first:

Open your Keynote presentation. Then select Export from the file menu:
For use with Wirecast, choose a QuickTime movie.

Select "Interactive Slideshow" for Playback Control. Wirecast uses markers in the interactive slideshow so you can advance through slides in the web cast. In this example, we'll use "Custom..." settings to specify a resolution of 400x300 and png compression for high quality images.

The movie can be saved in the Movies folder for the user:

↑ Using Wirecast to Webcast a Presentation

The following steps outline the process for delivering a live presentation with slides exported from Keynote with Wirecast.

↑ Import the Keynote movie
Launch Wirecast and add the movie exported from Keynote as a new Shot (drag and drop from the Finder into the Wirecast window). Since the iSight camera is plugged in, it will automatically show up as a shot as well.
↑ Create a custom broadcast preset
Wirecast comes with a number of presets for web casting. However, for this webcast we'll create a custom setting with a bigger image (400x300 pixels) with a low frame rate (10 frames per second) and a cable/dsl friendly data rate (300 kbit). Select "Broadcast Settings" from the Broadcast Menu and the following window will appear. To create a custom setting select "Edit" from the Encoder Preset pop-up menu:

Configure the encoder presets as specified above:

Then save the Preset with a descriptive name:

Select the saved preset from the Encoder Preset pop-up. This preset can be used whenever a live presentation web cast for dsl/cable viewers is desired. This web cast will be announced to at QuickTime Streaming Server running at 192.168.0.2. Once the Broadcast Settings are configured, click the Save button. This is also a good time to save the Wirecast document (select Save from the File menu).
↑ The Intro Shot
Next create an "Intro" shot. This shot will have the presenter and the presenter's title. This is how we'll start the webcast. To create a new shot, click the + icon in the Wirecast document window:

The "New Shot" will appear in the list of shots in the Wirecast Document window. Double-click on the shot to open the shot editor. Select the iSight as the source for "Channel A" of the "Scene" layer for this shot:

Click on Title in the "Element Selector" area of the shot editor window (Left hand side under the disclosure triangle). The title layer of the shot can now be created and edited. Select a title style from the "Configuration Area" of the shot editor window ("Just Color" in this example) and enter the text you would like to have for the title.

Finally, select the iSight as the Audio Source for this shot:

Close the shot editor window. To change the name of the shot, Control-Click on the icon for the shot to bring up the contextual menu, and select "Rename Shot:"
↑ Create the presentation shot
A "presentation shot" will be used for most of the webcast. Wirecast has the capability to composite different sources in a variety of ways. For the presentation shot the live video will be placed on top of the slides using "picture in a picture." Create another new shot using the + icon in the main Wirecast window. Double-click on the shot to open up the shot editor for this new shot. Select the QuickTime movie exported from Keynote as the source for Channel A in the Scene layer of this shot:

From the "Configuration Area" of the shot editor window select "Picture in a Picture" for the Scene layer. The specify the iSight as the source for Channel B. The Preview area of the shot editor window will display the composited video.

The source for the Audio Layer will be the iSight camera:
↑ Start the webcast of the presentation
Once the shots are configured, click on the Intro Shot, then start the broadcast. The Broadcast can be started from the Broadcast menu or by clicking on the Broadcast icon:

Note, you may also want to use "Start Recording" or the Record icon to save the broadcast to a QuickTime movie on the local hard disk for archival purposes. The recorded movie can be placed on a streaming and/or web server so clients can view on-demand after the live event is over.
↑ Change slides on the webcast
With the Presentation Shot selected in the main Wirecast document window, the presenter can advance from slide to slide using "Play to Next Point" from the Media menu. The presenter can go back with "Jump to Previous Point." Note the keyboard equivalents of the menu commands.
↑ Tuning in with QuickTime Player
Once the webcast is running, clients can tune in directly from QuickTime Player by entering the URL to the sdp file generated on the server:

The movie can be saved and embedded on a web page, e-mailed to clients, etc. The saved movie will open up the live stream without the need to enter the URL:

Use a "self contained" movie. Because this movie references a stream, the file will be very small: