Macros are a powerful new feature in XSplit Broadcaster 3.3. Macros allow you to set up a variety of automated actions that can be triggered in a variety of ways. In the guide, we’ll show you some examples of how you can use Macros to expand your production capabilities.
Using Macros to Set Per Scene Transitions
If you’re a fan of using various transitions and stingers between your scenes, you can streamline this process using macros. Select “On key press” as your event and select your hotkey. For the first action select “set scene transition” and choose your transition or stinger for the scene. Next, add the “Switch to scene” transition and pick the scene you wish to apply the transition to. Now when you use the hotkey, you’ll switch to the scene with your preferred transition.
Automating a broadcast
If you’re looking to set up an automated broadcast, say running a greatest hits show with pre-recorded clips, macros make this easy to set up. This setup will require setting up various macros that will work in conjunction with each other. For the first macro, set “on scheduled time” as the event and select the time you wish for your stream to start. Next, add an action to “start/stop broadcast” and select the channel you will stream to, and select start. Now add an action to “switch to scene” that will play the first recorded clip in your broadcast.
Now you will create another macro where the event is “when a media source stops” and select the video file from the scene you select in the first macro. Add another action to switch to the scene for the next video in the broadcast. You can duplicate this macro over and over for however many files you have in your broadcast. For the ending of the broadcast, create a macro with “when a media source stops” as the event and select the scene with the last video in your broadcast. Add an action to stop your broadcast and congratulations you’ve set up your own automatic broadcast!
IRL Broadcasting
The production quality of IRL streams has grown by leaps and bounds over the last year. Many people have built custom backpacks that stream to RTMP servers that can be used in conjunction with streaming software to add their favorite streaming widgets. The problem that arises is that it can be hard to access a PC while streaming to shut off streaming software. Macros can be used to alleviate this pain point. First, create a macro with “when a stream source goes online/offline” as the event. Next, select the scene and RTMP or RTSP source and select online. For the action, select start broadcast and choose the channel you will be streaming to.
Since IRL streaming depends on cellular signals, you will have temporary interruptions of service which will affect the stream feed. To prevent your stream from constantly going offline, setup up your going offline macro the same way as the online macro, but add a wait action before the stop broadcast action. The stream will only end if the stream is offline longer than the wait period. That’s all there is to automating IRL Broadcasting with macros
Toggling Sources Via Hotkey
One of the most requested features by users is the ability to toggle their sources via hotkey, but this is now possible with macros. Start by setting the event action to “on key press” and selecting your hotkey. For action pick “set source visibility”, select the source you wish to toggle, and set the action to toggle visibility. Make sure to enable the event listener and you’re ready to go.
Streamlining Advanced XSplit Presentations
Macros allow you to group a variety of actions in a production so that operations can be as easy as one click. For example, when running video ads, it is very easy to miss the cue of when to switch scenes at the end of the ad or muting microphone audio so that casters don’t speak over the video. To automate this add a macro and select “When a media source stops” and select the scene and your video ad. Then add an action “switch to scene” to choose the scene you’d like to switch to when the ad finishes. You can use this in conjunction with the per scene audio extension to ensure the microphone input from casters is muted.
This was just a small sample of the possibilities with Macros. We encourage experimentation and if you’ve created some cool macros make sure to share them with us on social media! Happy streaming #XSplitFamily!
