How to use www.flowcaster.live

How to set up a session, invite participants, add your editor, and more

Different flowcaster.live site views, desktop and mobile

Help

How To Use the Front Page


1. Click the Sign In button. A dialog opens to let you sign up and log in using your Google, Facebook, Twitter, Email, Phone, or Apple account details.


2. Click the New Meeting button to start a new meeting. Or, enter a meeting code and click the Join button to enter an existing meeting. This opens the flowcaster.live Collaboration Site

Help

The Main Areas of the Collaboration Site


There are eleven main areas within the flowcaster.live collaborative review site:

  1. The main screen, usually a live output of Adobe/Avid/Resolve/etc., or an MP4 file. Clicking on it makes it full size or equal size.
  2. The cameras of the people involved, or their initials
  3. Click to show the participants in the display area
  4. Click to show drawing details in the display area
  5. Click to show comments in the display area
  6. Display Area: this area displays either the comments, the drawing details, or the participants, depending on which one is selected.
  7. The alternate language selector
  8. The meeting (session) details area
  9. Time Code display from the editor if present
  10. The main controls: Microphone on/off, Camera on/off, Configuration, Hang up (leave call) and light/dark mode selector
  11. The drawing tools, session tools, and help selectors. Click to expand the drawing tools, or click to expand the session tools. Clicking the Help button opens this help page.

Help

How To Use the Flowcaster.live Site

  • What do I need to get started?

    You don't need to install anything to join a meeting. Depending on your workflow, you may want to download and install the FlowCaster Tools. You will need a device capable of accessing the internet, such as a computer, tablet, or smartphone.

    • We recommend you have an audio input device such as a microphone or headset so people can hear you in the group chat.

    • We recommend you have an audio output device such as a set of speakers or a headset/headphones so you can listen to the group chat.

    • We recommend you have a video input device so other people can see you on the group webcam. A common USB web camera should be fine.

  • To create a session and invite other people, you will need to create an account. To join a meeting, you may be able to simply click a link, or sign up for free and click a link, depending on the quantity and type of participants available to the account holder. During this introductory period however, there are no limits to the sessions, so you can try out all of the various workflows.

    Ultimately there will be two levels of paid subscriptions available, as well as accommodation for registered free subscribers, and unregistered free participants.

    Setting up an account is a simple process - here's how:

    Press the Sign In/Sign Up button on the upper right.


    Sign in to set up your account

    You will be prompted to sign in to your account, or create an account and then sign in. To create an account, you can use either your Google, Facebook, Twitter, Email, Phone, or Apple credentials. The dialog will also ask for your First and Last name, and a password.


    You can use your existing accounts to sign in

    Once you have signed in, press the New Meeting button. This opens the session space, and you will be prompted to enter a user name for the session. This is the name other participants will see on your webcam view. The name field will work with any text you care to type in, but it cannot be left empty.


    What is your user name?
  • Once you have joined a session, you will want to set up your audio and video input and output devices.


    The gear icon in the middle opens the Configuration menu

    Click the Gear icon from the main controls along the bottom of the screen to open the Configuration menu.


    Get the audio and video I/O set up

    Use the Audio input source pulldown to select the audio input device you want to use. A headset would work well since it would provide both input and output. You could use a microphone for input if you prefer. You may be prompted to allow flowcaster.live to access the audio input device.

    Use the Audio output destination to select how you want to listen to the audio. You could use your system speakers for output, or a headset as above. If set to Default Output Device, you can set the audio output using your computer's system settings.

    Use the Video source pulldown menu to select your video input device. You may be prompted to allow flowcaster.live to access the video input device.

    You can use the toggle switch labelled Blur background to blur the background. This can be a handy feature to keep your location from providing a visual distraction.

    If the video input has been set up, there will be a video preview of what your webcam is sending.

    Telestrator - The default duration for telestration to be displayed is shown here, and can be reset by typing in a new value. The setting is number of frames, so 30 frames would display a drawing for one second in a 30fps signal.

    The camera may still be off. You may simply be able to click the camera icon to turn it on.


    Turn the camera on

    The microphone may still be off. You may simply be able to click the microphone icon to turn it on.


    Turn the microphone on

    It may be useful from time to time to turn the microphone off as a mute when you are not speaking, to keep the session audio clean.

    Note: If you are hearing a reverb sound, or feedack, the microphone may be picking up the output of your speakers or headset. You can click the microphone icon to mute your audio while you move the audio output further away from the input, and/or lower the volume.

  • You can invite other participants to the session for their input.

    Click on the Meeting Details button.


    Meeting Details

    This opens the Meeting Details tab, with a link you can copy.


    Copy Meeting Details

    Copy the link by pressing the Copy Joining Info button. You can also copy the link directly from your browser bar. Send the link to other participants.

    They can then click on the link you sent to open the flowcaster.live site. To join the session they will each need to enter a name, and set up their audio and video devices.

    Here is an example where John Smith has opened a new session.


    John Smith has logged in

    John's initials occupy the webcam area, as no video device has been set up. In the upper right above the chat area, 1 person is now present in the session.

    Note: If one person has been designated as an Administrator (see the "How Do I Set or Remove Privileges for Participants" section below for details), each participant will need to be approved by the Administrator before they can join the session.

  • FlowCaster creates a virtual I/O board as a transmitter for Adobe creative software like Premiere and After Effects.

    To configure FlowCaster in Adobe Premiere, access the Playback area or Preferences. On Windows, it is the Edit | Preferences | Playback menu. For macOS, it is the Main | Preferences | Playback menu.


    Preferences Playback

    This will bring up the Playback settings in the Preferences panel. To use FlowCaster, you will want to set the Audio Device to FlowCaster Transmitter, as well as checking the checkbox next to FlowCaster Transmitter in the Video Device list.


    Set Audio and Video to Flowcaster

    This will cause Adobe to use FlowCaster as its video board. To configure FlowCaster, click on the Setup link in the Video Device list next to the FlowCaster Transmitter entry. That will bring up the FlowCaster Configuration dialog.


    Configuration dialog

    Flowcaster.live uses WebRTC to receive video from Premiere.

    Select WebRTC as the Transmit Type

    Paste the meeting URL into the URL field

    Optionally you can adjust the latency, apply encryption, set a password, and burn in time code.

    Check the Play Audio Locally checkbox if you'd like to hear the audio locally.

    Press the OK button to set your changes.

    The editor will open up in the session as a new participant, and flowcaster.live will display the editor's time code.

    Flowcaster.live supports a wide range of send and receive types for alternate workflows:


    Transmit Types

    SRT Caller - this uses SRT to call out to a remote device. The IP and port for this protocol in URL should be the remote device's IP address and selected port.

    SRT Listener - this uses SRT to listen on your local machine. The IP must be one of the IPs on your machine, and you must select a port to receive on.

    SRT Rendezvous - this mode uses the external, internet IP to connect through local NAT routers. Here it should be the internet facing IP of the remote device. On that device's config, it should be your internet facing remote IP. To get those IPs from each network, use https://whatismyipaddress.com/.

    RTP - the IP and Port for this mode can be the remote device, or a multicast address (239.x.x.x) that both the sender and receiver are set to.

    UDP - the IP and Port for this mode can be the remote device, or a multicast address (239.x.x.x) that both the sender and receiver are set to.

    RTMP - the URL for this mode will consist of the remote server, followed by the remote key For instance, with YouTube.com, the address would be rtmp://a.rtmp.youtube.com/live2, and the key would be provided by YouTube and look something like this j2br-3t45-b6ck-s9h9-5dcy, so the URL would be rtmp://a.rtmp.youtube.com/live2/j2br-3t45-b6ck-s9h9-5dcy.

    NDI - for NDI, the URL would be a unique name, that NDI will combine with the computer name, to create a fully qualified name you can use to connect to the stream.

    WHIP - uses WebRTC to call out to the Whip server that sends out WebRTC sessions to all the clients

    WebRTC/FlowCaster.live - integrates one or more FlowCaster signals into a group chat

    BLS - provides an HTTP server/file that allows a browser to directly display the audio and video

    URL

    Normally the IP and Port or a fully qualified URL, depending on the Transmit Type setting. Below are some typical examples:

    SRT Caller: 10.0.0.60:5000

    SRT Listener: 10.0.0.238:5000

    SRT Rendezvous: 108.174.19.198:5000

    RTP: 239.254.30.30:1234

    UDP: 10.0.0.60:5004

    RTMP: rtmp://a.rtmp.youtube.com/live2/j2br-3t45-b6ck-s9h9-5dcy

    NDI: FlowCaster1Out

    WHIP: director.millicast.com/api/whip/kwky3g6g?

    auth=48ce3daa09cd8355f80fc0d37005f9422a62bebf9b6411b61cfb1cfb2fa

    FlowCaster.live: https://flowcaster.live/?meetingID=gclp-ljtd-ucow

    Bliss: 10.0.0.238:5000

    Latency

    Latency is the number of milliseconds to give the signal to recover packets. This is for SRT. The lower this number, the closer to real time the monitor will be. The larger, the more room it will have to recover any lost packets. It is recommended this be the RTT (round trip time) between the two devices plus 20 milliseconds.

    Encryption

    SRT supports end to end encryption. Setting this to 128 or 256 will cause all the data to be encrypted, use the Password below.

    Password

    If encryption above is set to 128 or 256, then this password will be used to encrypt the signal, and it must be used on the receiving device for it to be able to decrypt the signal.

    User

    If your protocol/transmit type require authentication, this is the user name that will be used in that authentication.

    Stream #

    If your protocol/transmit type supports multiple stream sets, this will specify which one you are sending.

    Compression

    What compression to use to send the stream. FlowCaster supports h.264, h.265/HEVC and JPEG 2000, but the receiver must also support them for the monitor to work. If you are unable to see the signal in the receiver, start with h.264 8 bit 4:2:0 and then work up from there to see what the receiver supports. videoQC supports all the codecs.

    Structure

    This is the internal structure of the compression. Three modes are supported:

    IBBP - this has the highest quality, but the longest latency

    IPPP - this has the best compromise between quality and latency

    IIII - this has the shortest latency, but the worst quality

    Bit Rate

    The kilobit rate to encode the video within. For instance, 2 mbs (megabits) would be 2000 kbs (kilobits).

    Receiver Supports HDR Signalling

    If your receiving software supports HDR Signalling, checking the checkbox will enable sending any local HDR signalling to the remote monitor.

    Audio Mode

    FlowCaster supports 5 audio modes:

    Stereo - just the first stereo pair

    Stereo Mix - mix all available channels to a stereo pair

    4 channels - send the first four channels

    8 channels - send the first eight channels

    16 channels - send the first sixteen channels

    Watermark

    A path and filename to a file to place on the output as a watermark. This would normally be a 32 bit PNG file with Alpha. The "..." button will bring up a file browse dialog to allow you to select a file from your local file system. The two numbers separated by a comma are the x and y start position of the watermark on the output signal in pixels.

    Once the OK button is clicked, FlowCaster will reset its output to match the new setup. At this point Flowcaster.live is ready to send your editor to the session.

    Press the Session button to expand the Session options.


    Open the Session tools

    This button opens the Session tools.


    Present Now option becomes visible

    Click the Present Now button. A permission window will open, where you can Allow Flowcaster.live to access an active window, in this case your Adobe editor.


    Present Now option becomes visible
  • FlowCaster creates an Open I/O board in Avid creative software like Media Composer.

    To configure FlowCaster in Avid Media Composer, you first have to enable it on the timeline. Find the Open IO output button just above the timeline.


    Find OpenIO button

    To enable it, right click on it and select FlowCaster. If FlowCaster is already selected, you can just left click on the button.


    Select Flowcaster

    Once enabled, the button will flash a red double arrow to indicate it is sending to FlowCaster.


    Button flashes red

    When enabled, a new menu under Tools will be available called Video Output Tool.


    Tools | Video Output

    Click on this to bring up the FlowCaster Configuration Dialog.


    Configuration dialog

    Flowcaster.live uses WebRTC to receive video from Avid.

    Select WebRTC as the Transmit Type

    Paste the meeting URL into the URL field

    Optionally you can adjust the latency, apply encryption, set a password, and burn in time code.

    Check the Play Audio Locally checkbox if you'd like to hear the audio locally.

    Press the OK button to set your changes.

    The editor will open up in the session as a new participant, and flowcaster.live will display the editor's time code.

    Flowcaster.live supports a wide range of send and receive types:


    Transmit Type

    SRT Caller - this uses SRT to call out to a remote device. The IP and port for this protocol in URL should be the remote device's IP address and selected port.

    SRT Listener - this uses SRT to listen on your local machine. The IP must be one of the IPs on your machine, and you must select a port to receive on.

    SRT Rendezvous - this mode uses the external, internet IP to connect through local NAT routers. Here it should be the internet facing IP of the remote device. On that device's config, it should be your internet facing remote IP. To get those IPs from each network, use https://whatismyipaddress.com/.

    RTP - the IP and Port for this mode can be the remote device, or a multicast address (239.x.x.x) that both the sender and receiver are set to.

    UDP - the IP and Port for this mode can be the remote device, or a multicast address (239.x.x.x) that both the sender and receiver are set to.

    RTMP - the URL for this mode will consist of the remote server, followed by the remote key For instance, with YouTube.com, the address would be rtmp://a.rtmp.youtube.com/live2, and the key would be provided by YouTube and look something like this j2br-3t45-b6ck-s9h9-5dcy, so the URL would be rtmp://a.rtmp.youtube.com/live2/j2br-3t45-b6ck-s9h9-5dcy.

    NDI - for NDI, the URL would be a unique name, that NDI will combine with the computer name, to create a fully qualified name you can use to connect to the stream.

    WHIP - uses WebRTC to call out to the Whip server that sends out WebRTC sessions to all the clients

    WebRTC/FlowCaster.live - integrates one or more FlowCaster signals into a group chat

    BLS - provides an HTTP server/file that allows a browser to directly display the audio and video

    URL

    Normally the IP and Port or a fully qualified URL, depending on the Transmit Type setting. Below are some typical examples:

    SRT Caller: 10.0.0.60:5000

    SRT Listener: 10.0.0.238:5000

    SRT Rendezvous: 108.174.19.198:5000

    RTP: 239.254.30.30:1234

    UDP: 10.0.0.60:5004

    RTMP: rtmp://a.rtmp.youtube.com/live2/j2br-3t45-b6ck-s9h9-5dcy

    NDI: FlowCaster1Out

    WHIP: director.millicast.com/api/whip/kwky3g6g?

    auth=48ce3daa09cd8355f80fc0d37005f9422a62bebf9b6411b61cfb1cfb2fa

    FlowCaster.live: https://flowcaster.live/?meetingID=gclp-ljtd-ucow

    Bliss: 10.0.0.238:5000

    Latency

    Latency is the number of milliseconds to give the signal to recover packets. This is for SRT. The lower this number, the closer to real time the monitor will be. The larger, the more room it will have to recover any lost packets. It is recommended this be the RTT (round trip time) between the two devices plus 20 milliseconds.

    Encryption

    SRT supports end to end encryption. Setting this to 128 or 256 will cause all the data to be encrypted, use the Password below.

    Password

    If encryption above is set to 128 or 256, then this password will be used to encrypt the signal, and it must be used on the receiving device for it to be able to decrypt the signal.

    User

    If your protocol/transmit type require authentication, this is the user name that will be used in that authentication.

    Stream #

    If your protocol/transmit type supports multiple stream sets, this will specify which one you are sending.

    Compression

    What compression to use to send the stream. FlowCaster supports h.264, h.265/HEVC and JPEG 2000, but the receiver must also support them for the monitor to work. If you are unable to see the signal in the receiver, start with h.264 8 bit 4:2:0 and then work up from there to see what the receiver supports. videoQC supports all the codecs.

    Structure

    This is the internal structure of the compression. Three modes are supported:

    IBBP - this has the highest quality, but the longest latency

    IPPP - this has the best compromise between quality and latency

    IIII - this has the shortest latency, but the worst quality

    Bit Rate

    The kilobit rate to encode the video within. For instance, 2 mbs (megabits) would be 2000 kbs (kilobits).

    Receiver Supports HDR Signalling

    If your receiving software supports HDR Signalling, checking the checkbox will enable sending any local HDR signalling to the remote monitor.

    Audio Mode

    FlowCaster supports 5 audio modes:

    Stereo - just the first stereo pair

    Stereo Mix - mix all available channels to a stereo pair

    4 channels - send the first four channels

    8 channels - send the first eight channels

    16 channels - send the first sixteen channels

    Watermark

    A path and filename to a file to place on the output as a watermark. This would normally be a 32 bit PNG file with Alpha. The "..." button will bring up a file browse dialog to allow you to select a file from your local file system. The two numbers separated by a comma are the x and y start position of the watermark on the output signal in pixels.

    Once the OK button is clicked, FlowCaster will reset its output to match the new setup. This may take a few seconds before you see the changes on the receiver.

  • Flowcaster.live can load an existing HTTP based video asset for group review. Press the Session button to expand the Session options.


    Open the Session tools

    This button opens the Session tools. Click on the Present Now button to select the file you want to play.


    Present now option becomes visible

    Specify the location of your video file in the dialog box. (Example below)


    Specify your video URL

    Once loaded, the video will open in a new screen within the session, so all participants can view it.


    Video opens in a new participant window
  • FlowCaster.live can save the session so all of the comments, webcam, and drawing feedback can be opened as a markup file in an editor.

    Press the Session button to expand the Session options.


    Open the Session tools

    This button opens the Session tools.


    Export Session option becomes visible

    Click on the Export Session button to reveal the Export options tab.


    Choose between export options

    FlowCaster.live can export files for Drastic-Adobe, Avid, Resolve, and Frame.io.


    When Drastic-Adobe is selected, you immediately download a CSV file that can be opened in FlowCaster, or in an Adobe editor.


    Export for Drastic and Adobe

    When Avid is selected, you immediately download an XML file that can be opened in an Avid editor.


    Export for Avid

    When Resolve is selected, you immediately download an EDL file that can be opened in Resolve.


    Export for Resolve

    When Frame.io is selected, you immediately download an fioxml file that can be opened in Frame.io.


    Export for Frame.io
  • You can open a session in FlowCaster.live for further review, and to add feedback to the session.

    Press the Session button to expand the Session options.


    Open the Session tools

    This button opens the Session tools.


    Export Session option becomes visible

    Click the Import Session button to reveal the Import Session options.


    Choose the type of session file to import

    Select the type of session you want to import.

    If you have exported a Drastic-Adobe session, you will be looking for a CSV file in your downloads, or wherever it has been saved.

    If you have exported an Avid session, you will be looking for an XML file in your downloads, or wherever it has been saved.

    If you have exported a Resolve session, you will be looking for an EDL in your downloads, or wherever it has been saved.

    If you have exported a Frame.io session, you will be looking for an fioxml file in your downloads, or wherever it has been saved.


    Look in your downloads
  • You can record everything that is happening on your screen during a session to watch at a later date. Press the Session button to expand the Session options.


    Open the Session tools

    This button opens the Session tools. Click on the Record button to set up the recording.


    Record option becomes visible

    This brings up a dialog to confirm the window or screen you want to present. Use the pulldown menu to select between available options.


    Select the window you want to share

    Select the window you want to present. Press the Allow button. Or you can press the Block button if you want to disallow screen sharing. There is an option to mute sharing notifications.


    Press the Allow button

    If you have pressed the Allow button, the premission window will close, the Record Now button will turn red, and all the other participants see the selected window or active application from your desktop in your webcam area.


    Press to Stop Recording

    A tiny window sits on top to remind you that you are sharing your screen. A Stop Sharing button is provided so you can stop sharing your screen at any time.


    You are now sharing your screen

    At some point you will be finished recording. Press the Stop button. You will be prompted to name the video you have recorded.


    Name the recording

    The video will immediately be downloaded onto your computer as a Webm file, which opens easily in most players.

  • The comment area allows all participants to have a shared text and emoji conversation. Each comment or emoji is displayed in sequence in the chat area, along with time code matching the video being reviewed. When the file is played back, comments and emoji will be briefly highlighted when playback moves through the time code location at which the comment or emoji was made.


    Area for typing comments and adding emoji

    To enter a comment, type your comment into the edit box, and once you are done, either click the green arrow head to the right, or press the enter key.

    The below image shows a chat area with two comments. The first, an emoji, is marked with time of day, as no editor was set up. The second comment is marked with time code, since by that time an editor was sending video along with time code.


    Comment with TOD, comment with TC

    To edit a comment, you can hover over the comment to reveal the edit options.


    Editing options for your comment

    From left to right, the options are:

    Edit Message - the comment box becomes active with your text, so you can edit it and keep your comments tidy. If you edit the comment by removing all the text, and press enter, it will be deleted.

    Modify Time Code - an edit box comes up with the time code so you can change the time code location of the comment. The time code must be replaced with valid SMPTE time code.

    Add Current Time Code - replaces the time code of your comment with the current time code location

    Delete Comment - removes the comment from the chat area

    To add emoji, click on the happy face icon at the left of the comment bar. This reveals emoji options. Select one by clicking on it. Then press enter, or click on the green arrow to add the emoji to the chat area.


    Choose between a plethora of emoji

    To edit an emoji, you can hover over the emoji to reveal the edit options.


    Change or Remove the emoji

    From left to right, the options are:

    Edit Message - the comment box becomes active with the emoji, so you can replace it, and/or add other emoji. If you edit the emoji by removing everything, and press enter, the entry will be removed from the chat area.

    Modify Time Code - an edit box comes up with the time code so you can change the time code location of the emoji. The time code must be replaced with valid SMPTE time code.

    Add Current Time Code - replaces the time code of your emoji with the current time code location

    Delete Comment - removes the emoji from the chat area

  • You can draw (or type) directly on the video being reviewed, using the set of drawing tools detailed below. For the drawings to persist, the video being reviewed should be in pause mode. Drawings are set by default to display for 30 frames during replay, unless interrupted by a new drawing, or the duration has been edited.

    As each drawing is made, it shows up in the Display Area, provided the drawings section is selected. Each drawing displays the time code location of the drawing (in cases where an editor is sending time code), or the time of day. There is also a button to edit the time code location, a clock icon to edit how long the drawing is displayed, and a trash can icon to delete the drawing.


    Edit the drawings

    Clicking the button to edit the time code opens a dialog with the current time code displayed. You can edit the time code value and press the OK button to change it.


    Edit the time code location of drawings

    To begin drawing, click the Draw button.


    Open the Visual Feedback tools

    This button opens the Drawing tools.


    Visual Feedback tools become visible

    Click the line icon to begin drawing lines in the session.


    Draw some lines

    Click the circle icon to begin drawing ellipses in the session.


    Draw some circles

    Click the Tt (text) icon to begin writing text directly on the image.


    Type on the image

    Once you type in the text and press OK, it will show up on the session.


    And there is the text

    Click the brush icon to begin drawing freehand in the session.


    Paint on the image

    Click the arrow icon to begin drawing arrows in the session.


    Draw some arrows

    Click the square icon to begin drawing rectangles in the session.


    Draw some rectangles

    Click the crowd trash icon to erase everybody's drawings in the session.


    Clear all the Drawings

    Click the single person trash icon to erase the drawing that you have made in the session.


    Clear Your Drawings

    Click the back arrow icon to undo the last drawing etc. you have made in the session.


    Clear Your Last Drawing

    Click the gear icon to adjust brush size, opacity, solid/dashed line setting, and font size.


    Adjust the Visual Feedback tools

    Click the pallette to change the color you are using to draw with. A color picker opens, and the user can select from standard colors, or create a custom color.


    Pick your color
  • During clip or stream review, it can be handy to zoom in on a specific detail. The zoom and pan features are controlled by the mouse.

    Use the scroll wheel to zoom in and out. Use the right mouse button to move the image around, or pan. Clicking on the scroll wheel will reset the image to normal view.


    Use the mouse controls to zoom, pan and reset
  • The Flowcaster.live site has been translated into several languages, and is designed to automatically set itself to the language the system is set to use.

    However, there may be cases where the user is more comfortable working in another supported language.

    Click the globe in the lower left corner of the site


    Language Settings

    A list of available languages will be displayed. Clicking on one will reset the interface to use the new language.


    Currently supported languages

    Here is a portion of the interface in German


    Here is an example of German text
  • Each of the participants is displayed with an icon and their name in the chat area. If no Administrator has been set, each participant will also have three dots and a pin. If an Administrator has been set, only the Administrator will see the three dots and a pin.


    Here is one such participant

    Click the three dots icon to reveal available options for that participant.


    Participant options

    Participant Options

    Message - add a text comment or emoji which only the selected participant can see.

    Mute - turn off the audio from a specific person's webcam, useful if the person is temporarily away from the screen and their audio is providing a distraction.

    Kick - remove the participant from the session.

    Make Admin - make one person the Administrator. When a session has an Administrator, only that person would see the three dots and the pin for other participants. An Administrator would also need to approve each participant as they seek to enter the session.

    Pin - Click the pin to the right of a particpant to keep that participant at the top of the chat area.

  • Drastic Technologies has provided tools and solutions for Adobe editor workflows for decades, and expands on this relationship by making the FlowCaster Live Review Panel widely available. The panel is available for free, and provides additional Drastic related features in a dockable panel within Adobe editing software.


    Flowcaster Live Review Panel

    The FlowCaster Live Review Panel is an Adobe CEP Extension Panel, a web application running within the context of Adobe Creative Cloud apps using a stack of technologies known as CEP (Common Extensibility Platform). The panel provides real time feedback between Adobe editors (Premiere, After Effects etc.) and Drastic applications such as videoQC, MediaReactor, and FlowCaster. We have submitted the panel for Adobe review, but in the meantime you can still install the panel and add these features to your workflow.

    The Adobe CEP Extension Panel is currently available as a ZXP file. A ZXP file is an extension that adds additional capabilities to an Adobe software program, such as Adobe Premiere or After Effects. The download link for the panel is as follows:

    https://www.drastic.tv/downloads/flowcaster/live.flowcaster.zxp

    To install this file you will need to use an installer designed for ZXP files, such as ZXP Installer. Using this particular installer is a straightforward process:

    Go to the website at https://aescripts.com/learn/zxp-installer/, and download the appropriate install for your operating system. When you run it, it will look something like this:


    ZXP Installer

    Drag the ZXP file onto the Installer, or use the File | Open (Ctl+O) menu option to select and run the install.

    A successful install will produce the below message, and activate the Premiere chip in the installer.


    Congratulations! You have successfully installed the FlowCaster Live Review Panel

    FlowCaster Live Review

    FlowCaster Live Review workflow lets you sign in to a session, and view the session directly in Adobe Premiere, without needing to go back and forth between the editor and the website. The following instructions assume you have installed FlowCaster tools from www.flowcaster.com.

    With Premiere running and the panel open, go to the Flowcaster.live website, sign in, and start a session.

    In Adobe go to Edit | Preferences | Playback, and click on the Flowcaster Transmitter Setup control. Set the Transmit Type to WebRTC (the arrow below), and enter the Meeting ID, or Session URL (circled in red below) from the web session you have running.


    Set up FlowCaster

    The editor will join the session, and you should start seeing video from your timeline on the web page. In the below image, an editor has added some drawings.


    Set up FlowCaster

    Load the panel from Windows | Extensions | FlowCaster Live Review.


    Open the FlowCaster Live Review Panel

    You will be prompted to sign in with your email, gmail, etc.

    Click on the Session tab, and enter the Meeting ID (everything in the URL after the equals sign) to Join the session. Click the Live Preview tab to view the session directly in Adobe Premiere.


    See the session in your editor including Telestration

    Once the session is complete, click the Import/Export tab. In this area, existing session markers can be imported for use in a review and approval workflow. Also session markers from the current session can be exported for use in either a Premiere, Avid, or Resolve editor. Finally, any session markers that have been loaded can be cleared.


    Import and Export Markers
  • Drastic Technologies has implemented a FlowCaster integration with Google applications such as Gmail and Calendar.


    Flowcaster Google Integration

    The FlowCaster Chrome extension for Google provides quick and easy access to FlowCaster Live's group review, meeting and approval tools. Our extension provides a quick start icon in the toolbar to start a new meeting/group review, or schedule on on your calendar. Within the calendar edit dialog, flowcaster.live links can be inserted to set up FlowCaster meetings in the future as part of the calendar event.

    The FlowCaster Chrome extension for Google is available as a quick download from the Chrome web store. Run Chrome and go to the following link:

    Chrome Extension for Google

    To add the extension, press the Add to Chrome button


    Add to Chrome button

    You will be prompted as to whether you would like to Add FlowCaster Integration.

    With the prompt, you should be aware that the plugin does need to read some information, to know where you are at in your calendar, gmail, etc., but it cannot save, transmit, or do anything to the data.


    Add Extension to Chrome

    What can FlowCaster do in your Google Products?

    The FlowCaster Extension for Chrome lets you open a FlowCaster session directly from your gmail or calendar.

    Open your Gmail, and you should see the FlowCaster link right beneath the Meet link.


    A FlowCaster link right there in your email!

    When you click the link, your inbox will display a FlowCaster splash. Clicking the New Meeting button produces three options: Start a FlowCaster meeting Now, Start and email a FlowCaster meeting, and Schedule a FlowCaster meeting.


    Start or schedule a meeting

    Selecting Start a FlowCaster meeting now opens a new tab with a FlowCaster session.

    Selecting Start and email a FlowCaster meeting opens a new tab with a FlowCaster session, and opens a new email with the session link so you can send the invite to others. The subject line of the email is Please join my FlowCaster.live meeting.


    New email with session link

    If you select the Schedule a FlowCaster meeting option, a new tab is opened, set to your calendar, where a new event is being created. You can easily add/invite contacts, set notifications, visibility, permissions and so on.


    Set up your meeting in advance

    You can also open up your calendar and set up a meeting from there.

    Using your google calendar, clicking on a day opens up a new event. With our google integration, a link has been added to quickly set up a FlowCaster session. Click the button labelled Add FlowCaster meet & review session.


    Set up the event from your calendar

    You will also notice FlowCaster has been added to your Google apps. Clicking on the FlowCaster icon will open a new tab set to FlowCaster.live so you can immediately start a session


    We are a Google application