Readme updated Nov 05 2020. See RELEASE_NOTES.md for latest changes (v.1.0.4).
SPX-GC is professional graphics controller for live television productions and web streaming. Browser based GUI can control HTML graphics templates on CasparCG server(s) and/or live stream applications such as OBS, vMix or Wirecast.
SPX-GC is pronounced G.C. [dʒiː.siː] or just "geesee" 😉
- LIVE DEMO
- Screenshots
- Install pre-built packages for Windows, Mac or Linux. Or build from source code.
- Run multiple instances
- Configuration
- Projects and rundowns
- HTML templates and template definition
- Custom controls
- Product roadmap
- Issues and Feedback
- MIT License
SPX-GC can be used to playout lower thirds, bumpers, logos and other on-screen graphics in live web streams or live TV broadcasts. Content for the graphic templates are entered into elements which are stored on rundowns within projects.
Software is based on a NodeJS server and can be run on Windows, Mac or Linux computers, on-premise or using cloud instances for remote work scenarios.
Graphic templates are typical HTML templates used with CasparCG and other HTML compatible renderers. Integrating existing templates with SPX-GC is done by adding a template definition (javascript-snippet) to them.
Originally SPX-GC was developed by SmartPX for YLE, a public broadcaster in Finland. Thanks Markus Nygård for the challenge! 🤘
See a LIVE DEMO of CG v1.0.4 at http://35.228.47.121:5000/ Please be aware there is just one instance running for demo purposes, so expect clashes and overall quirky experience if multiple users are logged in at once. Changes made in demo are reset automatically few times a day. (Also pay attention to the version number, it may not be the latest version.)
For extra GC functionality, software integration or advanced custom graphics templates, do not hesitate to contact [email protected].
SPX-GC can be installed using a ready-to-go binary package which includes all required software components. Developers can alternatively get the full source code and run SPX-GC with npm scripts, see section install source code.
Source is updated more frequently than binary packages. See package.json file for current version.
| Operating system | Zip file | Build date | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Windows | SPX-GC_1_0_2_win64.zip | Oct 06 2020 | Most tested version. |
| MacOS | SPX-GC_1_0_2_macos64.zip | Oct 06 2020 | Dataroot and config.json may be generated to user's home directory at first launch and app will not run properly. Exit, move config.json and DATAROOT folder to correct folder and edited config.json manually to reflect these path changes. Issue (#3). |
| Linux | SPX-GC_1_0_2_linux64.zip | Oct 06 2020 | Tested with some flavours of Debian and Ubuntu but user's input is appreciated here, see feedback. |
- Download a zip-file for your system using one of the links above.
- Create a new folder for the app (for example on Windows
C:/Program Files/SPXGC/, or on Linux/SPXGC). - Extract the zip-file to that folder.
- Locate the executable (for example
SPX-GC_win64.exeon Windows) and double click it to start the SPX-GC server. A console window should open (and remain open) and show some startup information. When running application the first time it will create a file structure shown in the below screenshot. Note: unzipping and running SPX-GC does not usually require admin priviledges. - On Linux or Mac add execute permission to the file (
chmod a+x SPX-GC_linux64 [or ...macos64]) and launch it in a console (./SPX-GC_linux64 [or ...macos64]). - See next steps in section first launch.
Developers can get the source code from the repository with git and run the application using NodeJS and npm.
- Create an empty folder on your system and fetch the source code using a
git clonecommand:
git clone https://github.com/TuomoKu/SPX-GC.git- After downloading the source, install required additional dependencies (node_modules) with
npm install- See
package.jsonfor available scripts, but in development the typical start script would benpm run devwhich will use nodemon to restart the server when changes are made to source files.
npm run dev- Installation of
pm2process manager (https://pm2.keymetrics.io/) can help in advanced production scanarios. - To run the server in production mode use
npm startwhich will run the server in the background withpm2process manager which will automatically restart the server if a crash occurs. Deeper usage and configuration options of pm2 is outside the scope of this readme-file.
npm start- To run several instances of SPX-GC (on different ports) with
pm2prepare aecosystem.config.js-file to same folder as config.json with details of each instance, such as:
// Example "ecosystem.config.js" file for pm2 to run multiple instances of SPX-GC.
module.exports = {
apps : [
{
'name': 'GC1',
'script': 'server.js',
'args': 'config.json'
},
{
'name': 'GC2',
'script': 'server.js',
'args': 'config5001.json'
}
]
};Then launch multiple instances with pm2:
pm2 start ecosystem.config.jsStop all running instances
pm2 kill- Open web browser (such as Chrome) and load SPX-GC gui from url shown in the console at the start-up:
--------------------------------
SPX-GC url:
http://192.148.1.22:5000
--------------------------------
Port 5000 is the default value in config and can be changed.
If installation and server start-up worked, you should see a Config screen in your browser asking a preference regarding user access.
There are two alternatives:
YES: Username and password are reguired to access the application.NO: Application will not require a login.- This config screen is shown
- at first startup, or
- when
config.jsonis missing, or - when
config.jsonhas username but password is left empty
Depending on the selection made, you will either be asked to login or you land to the Welcome page and you are free to explore the application. If password is given it will be stored in the config-file in unreadable, encrypted format.
By default the dataroot has one "Hello world" -project with "My First Rundown" in it for demonstration purposes.
Start making configuration changes or creating projects and adding templates and adding those to rundowns for playout.
You can also follow these steps to get yourself familiarized with the application:
- Open SPX-GC in browser, typically at http://localhost:5000
- Choose 'no login' policy by selecting No option and click Save
- Go to Projects
- Add a new project, for instance
My First Project. (Project's settings opens.) - Click [ + ] button to add the first template to the project
- Browse to
smartpx > Template_Pack_1-folder and chooseSPX1_INFO_LEFT.html-template - Go back to Projects
- Double click
My First Projectto open it - Add a new rundown to this project, for instance
My First Rundown. (The new empty rundown opens.) - Click [ + ] button to add an item to the rundown
- Pick SPX1_INFO_LEFT -template
- Double click rundown item to edit it, enter "Hello world!" and click Save to close the editor
- Play the item with SPACEBAR or by clicking on PLAY button at the bottom of rundown list.
Congratulations! Now go back to your project's settings and add more templates to it...
When a new version becomes available it will be shown on the Welcome page of the application.
Application DOES NOT come with
config.jsonand it will be generated at server start up.
SPX-GC uses a JSON file to store configuration settings, such as folder paths, playout server settings or user interface language options. Most of the settings can be changed from the configuration page.
Some rarely used settings are left out from configuration page and can be changed by manually modifying the config file in a text editor.
The default configuration file name is config.json but it is possible to run the server with a specific configuration file. For instance you might have two instances running on the same system, using shared project files and templates but on different server ports and using different renderers. (See also pm2 process manager)
To run the server with another config, provide the config file as the first command line argument, for example:
SPX-GC_win64.exe myOtherConfig.jsonAn example config.json of the SPX-GC server
{
"general": {
"username": "welcome",
"password": "",
"hostname": "My main machine",
"langfile": "english.json",
"loglevel": "info",
"logfolder": "X:/GC-DEV/LOG/",
"port": "5000",
"dataroot": "X:/DATAROOT/",
"templatefolder": "X:/GC-DEV/ASSETS/templates/"
},
"casparcg": {
"servers": [
{
"name": "OVERLAY",
"host": "localhost",
"port": "5250"
},
{
"name": "VIDEOWALL",
"host": "128.120.110.1",
"port": "5250"
}
]
},
"globalExtras": {
"customscript": "/ExtraFunctions/demoFunctions.js",
"CustomControls": [
{
"ftype": "button",
"bgclass": "bg_black",
"text": "ANIMATE OUT",
"fcall": "stopAll()",
"description": "Take all layers out"
},
{
"ftype": "button",
"bgclass": "bg_red",
"text": "PANIC",
"fcall": "clearAllChannels()",
"description": "Clear playout channels"
}
]
}
}Please note: the server will fail to start if config is not valid JSON. You can use JSONLint to validate JSON data.
templatefolder contains the HTML templates for SPX-GC. To make CasparCG work with these templates, the easiest way is to configure CasparCG to use this folder as it's template folder. See this note.
langfile is a filereference in locales-folder for a JSON file containing UI strings in that language. You can copy an existing file to another name and modify it's contents. Folder is scanned at server start and files are shown in the configuration as language options.
loglevel default value is info. Other possible values are error (least), warn, verbose and debug (most log data). All log messages are stored into log files in logfolder. The active file is named access.log. Log files can be useful in troubleshooting.
globalExtras are additional user interface controls, or plugins, shown below preview window in all project as opposed to projectExtras which are project specific. Each item has an UI component (a button) and associated function call available in the specified javascript file. When a new config.json is created it has some demo extra controls to introduce related consepts and possibilities.
All content in SPX-GC is stored as files in dataroot folder which is specified in the configuration.
- Projects are subfolders in the dataroot-folder
- Rundowns are files in project subfolders.
Projects can be added and removed on the Projects page and rundowns can be added and removed inside project on the Rundows page. Most changes are saved automatically. If the UI becomes unresponsive it is usually fixed by refreshing the current page (Ctrl+R).
File structure of dataroot:
⏵ LOG
⏵ ASSETS
⏷ DATAROOT
┝━⏵ Project A
┝━⏵ Project B
┕━⏷ Project C
┝━━ profile.json
┕━⏷ data
┝━ Rundown 1.json
┕━ Rundown 2.json
Typically users don't need to do any manual file management using computer's filesystem.
Project specific settings, such as assigned templates and project extras are stored into profile.json within each project folder.
Templates can be added to a project on the project settings page. When a template (a .html file) is browsed and selected, the system will scan the file and search for a template definition which will tell SPX-GC what kind of input fields should be generated for that template and how the template is planned to be played out. Template defaults are stored to project's profile.json (as "copy") and if HTML template's definition related details are changed afterwards the template must be imported to the project again. The system does not re-scan added templates.
If selected template does NOT have template definition it will cause an
error:templateDefinitionMissing-message. See section html templates.
showExtras are additional user interface controls, or plugins, shown below preview window in current project as opposed to globalExtras which are shown in every project. Each item has an UI component (a button) and associated function call available in the specified javascript file.
An example projects settings <PROJECT>/profile.json:
{
"templates": [
{
"description": "Hashtag one-liner",
"playserver": "OVERLAY",
"playchannel": "1",
"playlayer": "7",
"webplayout": "7",
"out": "4000",
"uicolor": "7",
"onair": "false",
"dataformat": "xml",
"relpath": "myTemplates/ProjectA/hashtag.html",
"DataFields": [
{
"field": "f0",
"ftype": "textfield",
"title": "Social media hashtag",
"value": "#welldone"
}
],
}
],
"showExtras": {
"customscript": "/ExtraFunctions/demoFunctions.js",
"CustomControls": [
{
"description": "Play simple bumper",
"ftype": "button",
"bgclass": "bg_orange",
"text": "Bumper FX",
"fcall": "PlayBumper",
},
{
"description": "Corner logo on/off",
"ftype": "togglebutton",
"bgclass": "bg_green",
"text0": "Logo ON",
"text1": "Logo OFF",
"fcall": "logoToggle(this)"
},
{
"description": "Sound FX",
"ftype": "selectbutton",
"bgclass": "bg_blue",
"text": "Play",
"fcall": "playSelectedAudio",
"value": "yes.wav",
"items": [
{
"text": "No!",
"value": "no.wav"
},
{
"text": "Yesss!",
"value": "yes.wav"
}
]
},
]
}
}The above project has just one template (
hashtag.html) assigned with three extra controls of different types.
Custom control's ftype can be
- button: a simple push button (with
textas caption) - togglebutton: button with separate on / off states
- selectbutton: a select list with an execute selection button
- ftypes
hiddenvalue is used, title showntextfielda typical input fielddropdownoptions provided as an array"items":[ {"text": "Hundred", "value": 100}, {"text": "Dozen", "value": 12} ]valueis one of the item array values
captiontext of "value" is shown in UI. Useful with static graphics.
SPX-GC uses HTML templates for visuals.
Templates can have any features supported by the renderers, such as Canvas objects, WebGL animations, CSS transforms and animations, animation libraries, such as GSAP, ThreeJS, Anime, Lottie/Bodymovin and templates can utilize ajax calls for data visualizations and other advanced uses.
SPX-GC comes with a starter template package for reference. See folder ASSETS/templates/smartpx/Template_Pack_1
Video: Use existing HTML templates.
Recommended folder structure for templates
⏵ LOG
⏵ DATAROOT
⏷ ASSETS
┝━⏵ video
┝━⏵ media
┕━⏷ templates
┝━⏵ smartpx
┝━⏵ yle
┕━⏷ myCompany
┝━⏵ ProjectA
┕━⏷ ProjectB
┝━⏵ css
┝━⏵ js
┝━ Template1.html
┕━ Template2.html
The templates must be within
ASSETS/templatesfolder structure. It is preferred to have a single subfolder for all your templates (myCompany in the example above) and futher subfolders for different template packs or visual styles within it (ProjectA, ProjectB in the example).
CasparCG does not support absolute file paths with HTML-templates using file protocol. SPX-GC loads templates from ASSETS/templates -folder which acts as a http server. (Serving templates over http to CasparCG is planned for future version of SPX-GC.) The simplest way currently to configure CasparCG and SPX-GC together is to make ASSETS/templates folder the templates folder of CasparCG. To make this change, move your existing HTML-templates to ASSETS/templates and re-configure
caspar.configto use that astemplates-folder. Video: template path configuration.
Another approach is to copy the templates to both locations but this can become cumbersome if changes are made to templates: the changes will need to be done to two places or those folders will need to be mirrorred somehow. See this Wikipedia article.
IMPORTANT: Each HTML template must have an
JSON data objectpresent in the HTML-files source code, within the HEAD section. Video: use existing HTML templates covers also this topic.
TemplateDefinition configures how a template is supposed to work within SPX-GC; what kinds of controls are shown to the operator and how the graphic should playout, on which server and layer for instance. These values are template's defaults and can be changed in the Project Settings view after the template is added to the project.
See details about supported values below the snippet.
<!-- An example template definition object for SPX-GC. -->
<!-- Place it as the last item within the HEAD section -->
<script>
window.SPXGCTemplateDefinition = {
"description": "Top left with icon",
"playserver": "OVERLAY",
"playchannel": "1",
"playlayer": "7",
"webplayout": "7",
"steps" : "1",
"out": "manual",
"uicolor": "2",
"dataformat": "json",
"DataFields": [
{
"field" : "f0",
"ftype" : "textfield",
"title" : "Info text",
"value" : ""
},
{
"field": "f1",
"ftype": "dropdown",
"title": "Select logo scaling",
"value": "0.3",
"items": [
{
"text": "Tiny logo",
"value": "0.3"
},
{
"text": "Huge logo",
"value": "1.2"
}
]
},
{
"field" : "f2",
"ftype" : "textarea",
"title" : "Multiline field",
"value" : "First line\nSecond line\n\nFourth one"
},
{
"ftype" : "divider",
"title" : "This is a divider",
},
{
"field": "f3",
"ftype": "filelist",
"title": "Choose background image",
"assetfolder" : "/media/images/bg/" ,
"extension" : "png",
"value": "/media/images/bg/checker.png",
}
]
};
</script>- playserver: one of the available CasparCG server names in config or "-" for none
- playchannel: CasparCG playout channel
- playlayer: CasparCG playout layer
- webplayout: a number between 1..20, or "-" for none
- out: how layer should be taken out:
manualdefault way: press STOP to animate outnoneplay only. Suitable for wipes / bumpers[numeric]milliseconds until STOP is executed
- steps: how many phases in animation? For normal in-out templates this is 1. For templates with 2 or more steps the Continue button gets enabled.
- dataformat: how template is expecting data
xmlthe defaultjsonused in some special templates
- ftypes
- ftypes (for field types) define template's GUI controls in SPX-GC controller
- the values of first two fileds are used as content preview in the rundown, so the order of fields should be considered for the ease of use
- The developer of the HTML template can consider how to utilize these values, for instance a
dropdowncontrol can be used to pick the name of the show host, or it can drive other values via javascript in the templates. See /ASSETS/templates/smartpx -folder for some inspiration.
| Field type | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
hidden |
A variable which is not editable by the user. Value is used by the template and, title shown as static text on UI. | Red color (#f00) |
caption |
The value is shown in UI. Caption can be used to display texts to operators of the template. | This template does not have editable values |
textfield |
A typical single line text input field. | Firstname Lastname |
dropdown |
A dropdown selector list. Options is an items array, each consisting of text (which is visible) and the value (which the template will use). The default selection is defined as value and it must be one of the values in the items array. See an example definition above. |
"items":[ {"text": "Hundred", "value": 100}, {"text": "Dozen", "value": 12} ] |
textarea |
A multiline text control which accepts return key for new lines. (Added in 1.0.2) | First line \n Second line |
filelist |
A dropdown selector list for files of of given type extension in an assetfolder within ASSETS -folderstructure of SPX-GC. This is useful for picking images or other media files in templates. (Added in 1.0.3) | sport_logo.png, news_logo.png |
divider |
A utility ftype to add a visual divider to a template. Can be used to create visual seqments for ease of use. (Added in 1.0.3) | Color options below |
Note additional user interface controls may be added in future releases.
Github issue tracker should be used for bug reports. For other feedback such as feature requests or other comments (for now at least) please use Google Forms feedback form at https://forms.gle/T26xMFyNZt9E9S6d8 or directly by email to [email protected].
All constructive feedback is highly appreciated!
- If UI becomes wonky reload the view (F5 / Ctrl+R).
- There is spagetti code whenever worked tired. Try to accept it...
- Undocumented features do exist. (templateEvents, TTS, pm2, cfg:hostname/usercommapass/greeting...)
- This list shouldn't be. At least not here.
New releases will try address found issues and bugs in older versions and they will also introduce new features and functionality. See table for some planned features and use feedback to submit suggestions.
A marketplace for SPX-GC compatible HTML -templates and plugins will open by the end of 2020.
When a new version becomes available it will be promoted on the Welcome page of the application (if access to internet). Several versions can be installed (into different folders) and if there are no backwards compatibility issues between versions they can be configured to use the same dataroot and template -folder.
| Release | Planned features (subject to change) | Timeframe |
|---|---|---|
| 1.1 | Mac install folder issue (#3) fix . Help page update, internal |
Q4/2020 |
| X.X | Under consideration: mediafile picker, video playback control templates, additional preview modes (while editing, simulation, rtsp stream), MIDI controller integration, global extras editor in appconfig, public API for controls, HTML template marketplace. Video tutorials. Knowledgebase. Forum. Slack support channel. Free lunches. | TBD |
Strikethrough items are done.
Copyright 2020 Tuomo Kulomaa [email protected]
This project is licensed under the terms of the MIT license. See LICENSE.txt