Just finished teaching anonther 3-day TriCaster course.  This time, the course was taught to the staff at Wright-Patterson Airforce Base in Dayton, OH.  As with every course I teach, we were able to make some new discoveries and advancements.  The challenge for this group was to find ways to make distance learning more effective, especially, when it's all about a person on camera and a PowerPoint deck.  Here's what we found:

A simple virtual set could be modified to enhance the experience of watching a presenter teach a subject using PowerPoint slides alone.  

     THE OLD WAY: Chromakey the teacher over fullscreen slides, "weatherman style"

     The NEW WAY: Use a TriCaster Virtual Set to so that the teacher could stand next to a giant montior displaying the slide, a close up shot of the presenter with a virtual set background, or the slide taken full screen.  With these three elements to cut between, instead of just one, the presentation begins to have rhythm, making it more interesting to watch. We also added a stylized lower-third name super to the close up shot and a logo/bug to the upper right corner over the entire broadcast. 

By using a TriCaster 855, this outfit was able to broadcast audio and video and incorporate a push-to-talk audio only response from any remotly located student.  It's a pretty cool set-up.

Any questions on TriCaster or Distance Learning applications, please post them here!

Gary Lieberman

TriCaster Trainer

gary@editsuite.com