Operating your ATEM Switcher
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Using Adobe Photoshop with ATEM
Installing the ATEM software on your computer also installs a Photoshop plug-in that lets you download
Photoshop graphics direct to the ATEM media pool.
This means you can accept graphics from designers in the application that 100% of the world's designers
use, Adobe Photoshop! You can even use the layers in a Photoshop image to keep variations of graphics,
such as different titles in a graphic, and then select the layers in Photoshop you want, and then simply
download them at the press of a button. When downloading the layers are automatically flattened in real
time before download. This happens in the background and your document in Photoshop is unchanged
by the export.
The ATEM export plug-in requires Adobe Photoshop CS 5 or later. Install or reinstall the ATEM software
after Photoshop is installed, to ensure the ATEM export plug-in is installed.
Setting up Plug-in Switcher Location
The first time the Photoshop export plug-in is run, it will ask you to select your switcher location. This is the IP
address of the switcher so the plug-in can find the switcher to communicate with. By default, the IP is set to
192.168.10.240, which is what the switcher IP address is originally set to when first sold. If you want to export
several versions of the same Photoshop file, you can use the export plug-in window to name each exported
file and also choose whether to set the files to a Media Player after export.
Preparing Graphics for Download
For best results, you will want to use a Photoshop document resolution that matches the video standard
you’re using with your ATEM switcher. For 1080i HD you should use documents that are 1920 x 1080 pixels
in resolution. For 720p HD formats you should use 1280 x 720 pixels resolution. For PAL standard definition
you should use 720 x 576 and for NTSC you should use 720 x 486 pixels resolution documents.
When working with Photoshop documents for ATEM, you should not put any content on the background
layer, but add all content to the layers above. The background layer should always be plain full frame black,
and you should use a pre-multiplied key setting in the ATEM keyers for keying graphics from Photoshop.
To help you get started, we've included a guide and some graphic template files in the Example Graphics
folder which was installed on your computer along with the ATEM Switchers software.
To download the graphic to the ATEM media pool, simply select the export menu in Photoshop and then
select ATEM Switcher Media Pool to export. A window will appear asking you to choose which position in
the media pool you want to download to. The list includes all the file names of graphics currently loaded in
the media pool. Select which position you would like to download to, and then select export.
ATEM export plug-in
