Branding Player

Owned by Alain Savoie
Last updated: Feb 24, 2022 by Jonathan Schmale
5 min read

Branding Player is used to show branding graphics in the form of bugs and snipes. All bugs and snipes are called assets and are defined in Flow using templates that have been published into the Chameleon database.

 

After launching Branding Player, you can optionally set preferences. This is where your Chameleon credentials are entered:

Followed by a dialog to choose channels and the logos path:

Although the main Branding Player is minimal, plenty of useful information and preference settings are made available using dialogs and tool windows. These can be opened from the File menu:

For example, open the Assets tool window from the File->Assets… menu item which gives a list of all available assets:

Branding Player supports multiple channels and uses ip connections to communicate with the web server for rendering and for sending program/preview channel and automation commands. The 3 ip connections are:

  1. branding port - Acts as an ip server for clients to connect to the Branding Player for sending branding commands. This is the way Flow triggers assets. It’s also how the Branding Master triggers commands. The ip port is defined in Flow on the Branding Players page. Any platform that can send commands over ip can be used to communicate with the branding connection. For example, Ross Video’s Dashboard can easily integrate with the Branding Player using this connection.

  2. automation port - If there’s a requirement to trigger assets using automation, an automation ip connection can be used. Branding Player can be the client or server for an automation connection. While branding commands are fixed, automation commands can be defined in the Branding Player.

  3. program/preview channel ports - In order to render assets, an ip connection is made between the Branding Player and the Web Server. The Branding Player specifies the graphics project, scene and key/value pairs so the Web Server can render assets. While #1 and #2 are optional, the web server connection is required in order to render the assets. We support a program and optional preview channel for each channel.

Assets can also be triggered using a schedule defined in Flow. It uses timecode to trigger the assets.

Branding Port

The Branding Port is optional and is used for manually controlling the Branding Player. There are a fixed set of commands that the branding port supports:

The # char above represents the asset name defined in Chameleon. And the delimiter command is a way of sending multiple commands simultaneously to a channel. Note that there are unique commands that distinguish program channel from preview channel.

The port is defined in Flow. In order to use this port for a channel, an ip address and port need to be defined. Branding Player creates a socket server if a port is defined for the channel providing a way for apps to send branding commands to the player.

Any app which can create a socket client can connect to a channel’s branding port. Chameleon comes with this support from Flow on the Trigger Assets page and also from the Branding Master app.

Automation Port

In order to support automation systems, the Branding Player allows commands to be sent to the Branding Player’s channels using an ip connection. Each channel is defined individually and can act as either the socket client or server. The connection is defined from menu item File->Channel Preferences…

 

 

Unlike branding commands, automation commands can be configured/defined by the user. This allows for easier integration with automation systems. The automation commands are defined in the player from the File->Define Automation Commands… menu item:

By default, the commands are the same as the branding commands but can be defined as required for automation systems including support for reconkeys.

Web Server Port

The Branding Player doesn’t actually render graphics. It just listens for and obeys commands based on the branding port, automation port or flow scheduled assets using timecode. Instead it sends commands to the Chameleon Web Server using an ip port. This port is what we call the Chameleon api and it matches

The Web Server Port is defined from menu item File->Channel Preferences… Both a program and optional preview ip/port can be defined.

 

Scheduling Assets in Flow

Besides triggering assets from the automation and branding port, assets can be defined in Flow in the Asset Scheduler:


Refreshing Assets

The branding player automatically refreshes the assets every 5 minutes. If you make a change and want to see it right away, you can trigger an immediate refresh of the assets using

  • Branding Web Player - File Menu - Refresh Assets

  • Branding Command: <refresh assets>