3Requirements and Recommendations
This section covers hardware, software and network requirements and recommendations, information about supported NLE systems, and necessary references to other Vizrt system guides for complementary information.
This section contains information on the following topics:
This section gives an overview of the Vizrt software and NLE systems supported by the Graphics Plugin.
For full details, see the Graphics Plugin Release Notes.
This section contains information on the following topics:
3.1.1Client Software Requirements
The Graphics Plugin has been tested with the following software:
Graphics Plugin for Adobe 2.1.0
•Graphics Plugin for Adobe on Windows:
•Microsoft Windows 7, 64-bit
•Adobe Premiere Pro CC 2014
•Viz Pilot 6.0.0
•Graphics Plugin for Adobe on Mac:
•Apple OSX 10.10.3 on Intel Hardware.
•Adobe Premier Pro CC 2014
Graphics Plugin for Final Cut 2.0.0
•Final Cut Pro 7
•Apple OSX 10.10.3 on Intel Hardware.
Graphics Plugin for Avid 2.0.0
•Graphics Plugin for Avid on Windows
•Microsoft Window 7, 64-bit
•Avid Media Composer 8.1
•Viz Pilot 6.0.0
•Graphics Plugin for Avid on Mac
•Avid Media Composer 8.1
•Apple OSX 10.10.3 on Intel Hardware
3.1.2Server Software Requirements
The server components used by Graphics Plugin have different system requirements. A summary is provided here, but refer to the individual release notes and manuals for details. Please note that it is not recommended to install all components on a single server.
•Connection Broker 4.0
•Optional, it is still possible to specify a specific Viz Engine directly.
•Requires Microsoft .NET 4.5.
•It can be installed on the same server as a Media Sequencer or a Viz Engine, or on a separate computer.
•Connection Broker 1.0.0 can be used, but some of the new features in Viz Engine 3.5 will not work. This may impact performance.
•Connection Broker 1.1 can be used but some of the new features in Viz Engine 3.7 will not work.
•Media Sequencer 2.0.3 and 3.0.0
•Requires Microsoft .NET 4.0.
•Connecting multiple Graphics Plugin workstations to the same Media Sequencer makes it easier to share graphics elements between Graphics Plugin clients.
•Elements saved to an MSE from Viz Trio on Windows can be used from the Graphics Plugin Editor for Mac OS X, and vice versa.
•Installing it on a Viz Engine server is not recommended since high memory usage can interfere with Viz Engine performance.
•Viz Pilot 6.0.0, Pilot Data Server 6.0.0
•Used by Graphics Plugin Editor (the Mac OS X editor) as a source for images to be used in graphics.
•The components are optional. If they are not used, Graphics Plugin Editor can still use images from the Viz Engine.
•Viz Engine 3 / Viz Artist 3
•Viz Engine 3.7.0 and 3.8.0.
•If you need to use older versions the recommended versions are 3.2.8, 3.3.1 and 3.5.1
•Viz Engine 3.7 or newer is required to take advantage of the new aspect independent frame fetching.
•Viz Engine 3.5 or newer is required to take advantage of the new custom resolution frame fetching and anti-aliasing.
•Viz Engine 3.5.0, 3.3.0, and 3.2.7 or earlier, have some known issues that can cause (rare) rendering artifacts when multiple NLE clients are using the same engine. We recommend Viz Engine 3.2.8, 3.3.1 and 3.5.1 or newer.
•It is highly recommended to have a fast (Gigabit) network connection between each NLE workstation and Viz Engine.
•This version of Graphics Plugin only supports UTF-8 encoding for the Viz Engine.
The list below is the current list of supported NLE systems that is within the scope of this document. Other versions are not officially supported unless it is specifically mentioned as part of this document.
The following systems are supported:
•Avid Media Composer and Avid NewsCutter
•Adobe Premiere Pro Creative Cloud (CC)
The Graphics Plugin for Adobe works together with Adobe Premiere Pro from version CS5 (including versions CS5.5 and CS6). This plugin works on both Windows-machines and Macs.
The Graphics Plugin for Adobe also works together with Adobe Premiere Pro Creative Cloud (CC). This setup has been tested to work on Windows-machines.
Note: In addition to Adobe Premiere Pro, the Graphics Plugin for Adobe plugin support Adobe AfterEffects from version CS5.
The Graphics Plugin for Final Cut works together with Apple Final Cut Pro 6 and 7 (available in Final Cut Studio 2 and 3, respectively), and Final Cut Pro X. This plugin works on Mac-machines only.
Note: There are separate installers for versions 6+7, and X. Support for Final Cut Pro X is new in version 2.0 of the Graphics Plugin.
Avid Media Composer and Avid NewsCutter
The Graphics Plugin for Avid works together with Avid Media Composer and NewsCutter. This plugin works on both Windows-machines and Macs.
Note: Support for Avid on Mac is new in version 2.0 of the Graphics Plugin.
The plugin for Avid has been tested with Avid’s Media Composer and NewsCutter; however, all systems supporting the Avid Extensions (AVX) 2.0 System Development Kit (SDK) should work. The following Avid products have AVX2 support:
•Avid Digital Studio (DS)
•Media Composer (Older Release and Post Adrenaline HD release that can run software only), Media Composer Adrenaline, and Media Composer Adrenaline HD
•NewsCutter, NewsCutter FX, NewsCutter XP, and NewsCutter Adrenaline (FX)
•Symphony and Symphony Nitris
•Xpress, Xpress Pro, and Xpress Pro HD
Separate Graphics Plugin for Avid installers apply for Windows 32- and 64-bit systems. The 32-bit Graphics Plugin version works together with Media Composer 5 and NewsCutter 9, whereas the 64-bit version works with the new Media Composer 6 and NewsCutter 10.
Note: Avid Liquid, previously known as Pinnacle Liquid, has been discontinued by Avid, and is currently not supported by the Graphics Plugin.
The Graphics Plugin for Quantel works together with Quantel QEffects 4.2, or later. This plugin works on Windows-machines only.
Note: Version 1.3.4 of the Graphics Plugin supports earlier versions of Quantel QEffects (versions 3.6 to 4.1).
Adobe Premiere Pro Creative Cloud (CC)
The Graphics Plugin for Adobe works together with Adobe Premiere Pro Creative Cloud (CC). The system is supported by Windows 8.1.
A Viz Engine can be shared by multiple simultaneous NLE clients; however, there are no recommended number of users for SD and HD as this in most cases is a performance issue and not a fixed limitation.
The Windows- and Mac-based NLE system setup typically operates on a single Viz Engine. This requires transportation of frames (images) over the network, so a fast network connection is recommended, preferably a gigabit switched network connection; however, a megabit (100 Mbit/s) connection will also work as the plugin supports lossless data compression using Portable Network Graphics (PNG) or Run-length Encoding (RLE) instead of uncompressed raw images.
Note: RLE is only supported by Viz Engine 3.2.2, or later.
The table below describes all listeners, port numbers, and which applications that use the port numbers to establish a connection.