Tagboard Producer 101

Tagboard Producer functions as a cloud-based control room to build out your playlist and edit your Graphics on the fly. Control every piece of content in real time. Use the table of contents below to quickly navigate to a section.

1. Access Producer & Create a Production
2. Get Familiar with Producer (plus learn about production and playlist controls)
3. Build a Playlist (including producing with curated content & using Custom Scenes)
4. Edit Graphics in Real Time
5. Connect a Screen
6. Go Live
7. Snapshot

Access Producer and Create a Production

You can access Producer from any Workspace within your Tagboard account. Select "Producer" from the top navigation bar. You can also find productions through the global search bar at the top of Creator, or within the "Jump Back In" section of your Home Page.

To create a new production, click +New Production and give it a title (4-60 characters). You can star productions you regularly use to keep them pinned to the top of your productions list.

You can also click to enter an existing production. A few helpful things also here at a glance:

• Output status: a green dot indicates an output link is currently live
• In this production: shows you any other team members who are actively in the production
• Outputs: quickly copy or open an output URL

Deleted Productions will be archived for 30 days, before they are permanently deleted. Productions can be restored during that 30-day archive period.

Get Familiar with Tagboard Producer

Let's take a quick tour to get familiar with the default view of your production workspace:

• The left sidebar will have all of your content available to take live in your show. 
  • At the top you'll see:
    • Shows: a pre-curated rundown with segments and organized graphics
    • Graphics: individual graphics including Custom Graphics, Social, Polls, and Classic Graphics
    • Media: your uploaded media including images and video
  • At the bottom you'll see curated content including:
    • Boards: featured Share It uploads & social posts
    • Shoppable: curated Fanatics merchandise
  • Playlist: this is where you will drag & drop Graphics and content to build out your rundown
  • Preview window: preview content to make sure it looks exactly how you want, before taking it live
  • Live window: the live window displays your content exactly how it will appear on your output
  • Layer Editor: edit layers of your Graphics in real time. Click on any Graphic in your playlist to reveal editing options in the layer editor

Let's talk about a few important controls.

Production Controls:

• Screen size: by default, your Preview & Live windows will be 1920x1080. You can choose from common presets or add a custom size at the top of your Production. It's important to note that this only controls your Preview & Live windows inside Producer. It does not adjust your actual Output.

• Background Picker: by default, the background will be transparent. You can change this to chroma, an image, or video background

Playlist Controls (these controls live at the top & bottom of your playlist): 

• Save as Show: created a Playlist you want to save and reuse? You can save it as a show, so you can easily reload the entire Playlist in one click. Learn more about Show Builder here.
• Add... 
  • Segment: Organize graphics into blocks of content so that each section of your show is packaged into easy to navigate groups.
  • Custom Scene: a Custom Scene allows you to go live with multiple Custom Graphics at the same time
  • Marker: visual production cues within your show flow; perfect for denoting commercial breaks, camera cues, or segment transitions 
• Playlist Thumbnail Size: control the size of thumbnail images on your Playlist
• Production Options: click the gear to open the production options
  • Graphic Transition Mode: This controls how Custom Graphics should animate in and out when moving between two Custom Graphics on the timeline. Out/In waits for the current Custom Graphic to leave before showing the new ones (default). Overlap will start showing the new Custom Graphics right away.
  • Social Transition Mode: This controls how Social Graphics should animate in and out when moving between them on the timeline. Cut will immediately hide the current Social Graphic and switch to the new one. Fade will slowly fade in the new Social Graphic over the current one.
• Audio controls: mute/unmute your timeline (Important note: if you plan to use audio, make sure you configure your live output to play audio)
• Loop timeline: when enabled, the playlist will loop back to the beginning after the final Graphic
• Go back: go back to the previous Graphic
• Play: automatically advance through the Graphics on your Playlist; you set a time limit for each Graphic on your Playlist (note: videos will play out entirely before advancing to the next Graphic)
• Go forward: advance to the next Graphic
• Clear Playlist: clear all Graphics & content on your Playlist (this action cannot be undone)

Build A Playlist

Producer uses a simple drag & drop workflow to bring Shows, Graphics, and Media onto your playlist.

Drag & drop an entire Show, or select individual Segments, Graphics, or images/videos from your Media. You can also use the '+' button to add to your playlist. 

Each Custom Graphic in a Scene has its own eyeball, to show or hide that Custom Graphic. Note that if your Custom Scene is already in Preview or Live when you add a Custom Graphic to the Scene, it will be hidden by default.

Edit Graphics in Real Time

To edit your Graphics, click on the Graphic on your playlist. This will open that specific graphic in the Graphic Editor on the right. The selected Graphic will be outlined in blue on your Playlist.

In the Graphic Editor, you can update the title that will be visible on your Playlist to help keep your Playlist organized.

Custom Graphics Layer Editor

You can edit any layers built into the Graphic. Darkened layers have been locked in Creator, and cannot be edited. Highlighted layers indicate you can edit the text or image.

You can also toggle visibility of each layer on or off, by clicking the eyeball icon on the right. Hidden layers will not appear in that individual graphic. For example, if you have a title bar with a Live or Breaking bug that you may not want displayed all the time.

If you are using live sports stats powered by Sportradar, you can also make season, team, and player choices in the Graphic Editor.

Social Editor 

If you select a Social Graphic, you will see different editing options such as updating the CTA, animation, cycle speed, and background.

Poll Editor

If you select a Poll, you will see different editing options such as updating the CTA, animation, cycle speed, and background.

Connect a Screen

See "Manage Live Display Output(s)" for a deeper walkthrough.

In short, after you've become more familiar with Producer and have a Playlist built out, you can create an output. Select the "Output(s)" button in the top right corner. Here you will be able to generate an output via URL or code, which will allow you to use Producer as a cloud-based control room to bring content live.

Produce Your Show & Go Live

Click the "P" to bring any Graphic or Custom Scene into Preview. This is a great way to proofread and confirm your graphic looks good to go. You can make any tweaks in the Graphic Editor.

When your content is ready to go Live, click the "L" button. This will send it to the live window and your live output display.

Need to edit content once its in Preview or Live?

Edit in your Layer Editor and click the "Update Preview" or "Update Live" buttons in the bottom right corner. This will immediately update your outputs, without having to bring the Graphic in & out of preview or live.

Snapshot

You can download a snapshot of your live window as a .PNG. 

Take your Graphic live, and click "Take Snapshot" above the live window to initiate the download. Need some ideas on how & why to use Snapshot? We'll get your creative wheels going.