Hockey Scoreboard Overlay

[John Cuevas]

Probably easier ways to do this, but here’s one method. Create a comp 20 minutes long and add a solid. Add the timecode effect. Now hit under the layer tab, hit the time reverse layer.

Now you can place this composition into your final, mask out the frames and hours.

ETA: Just read Dave’s post, yeah, you’ll have to learn time remapping.

Johnny Cuevas, Editor

[Nick Leigh]

Is it possible for someone out there to create a plugin that would do this? Obviously I would have to pay someone but it might be worth it apposed to using all my free time.

[Walter Soyka]

Build out your scoreboard graphic without the numbers, and then create two text layers (home and away scores), each with a 0 or some other dummy number, and position them as required.

Add at least one marker (asterisk on the numeric keypad) on the first frame of each text layer.

In each text layer, twirl down the text properties, and add the follow expression to the Source Text property:
m = thisLayer.marker;
i = m.nearestKey(time).index;

if (m.nearestKey(time).time > time){ i--;}
if (i < 1) { i = 1};
i--;
i

To change the score, simply add a new marker to the text layer at the point you want to increase the score, and it will increment by one.

The expression works by comparing the current time of the comp to the nearest marker on the layer, and getting the index (a counter) of that marker. If the current time is less than the time of the nearest keyframe (in other words, the nearest marker is still in the future and we haven’t reached it yet), it decreases the counter. Finally, it decreases the counter by one so that the scoring will start at zero instead of 1.

Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events

[Walter Soyka]

As cool as my layer-marker-to-scoreboard idea was (and even cooler — the football scoreboard I started thinking about, with all its different scoring possibilities), there is a far simpler way.

You can simply add two text layers for the home and away scores, and set them both to 0. Twirl down the Text layer until you reveal the Source Text property and enable the stopwatch. When a team scores, just manually update the score on the frame where you want it to change with the standard text tool. AE will automatically add hold keyframes for the text source property, so it will work just like a real scoreboard graphic.

Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events

[Todd Kopriva]

Aharon Rabinowitz has a great tutorial here that shows how to make this kind of thing relatively easy.

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Todd Kopriva, Adobe Systems Incorporated
Technical Support for professional video software
After Effects Help & Support
Premiere Pro Help & Support
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[Joseph W. bourke]

Nick –

The best way to do this is using a dedicated graphics package that’s made for live video overlay, such as TypeDeko, or PostDeko:

https://www.avid.com/US/products/postdeko

I used the Pinnacle CG products for years (TypeDeko, Postdeko), and it was a simple matter to create my elements (boxes, hightlights, callouts, etc.) in Photoshop, then bring everything in to TypeDeko as a template, and there were countdown timers available, and sequences which could be run live (or in post) so that game scoring was a pretty painless deal.

There was even a built in programming language (K-Code I think they called it – a throwback to its’ Dubner roots) that you could use to automate things like weather full screens (so all you had to do was type the data, and it would format for the correct font, color, size, position, etc.).

It sounds as if using AE for this is like using a toaster to roast a turkey – you’ll get it done – but you won’t be hungry anymore.

Joe Bourke
Creative Director / Multimedia Specialist
B&S Exhibits and Multimedia
bs-exhibits.com

[Nick Leigh]

Well with the help of Dan Egbberts function for the keyframes with a checkbox control I was able to create a clock that would stop and start when I wanted it to using checkbox control to know when the clock was suppose to be running and when it was stopped. I also added in a linear function at the end to make sure the clock was at zero when each period ended. Here is the expression code, just wanted to post it so anyone else looks for a count down clock with the ability to stop and start it.


//Full Function Countdown Script
//Written by - Dan Ebberts (keyframe math)
//Edited by Nick Leigh (added the stopwatch function) - nick17604@hotmail.com

function padZero(n)
{
if (n < 10)
return "0" + n;
else
return "" + n;
}

//new keyframes
periodLength = 10; //length of period in minutes
decimals = true; //use decimals with left than a minute left
lastStart = 6;
rate = 1;
diff = 0;
c = thisComp.layer("Period 1").effect("Checkbox Control")("Checkbox"); // checkbox

if (c.numKeys > 1)
{
n = c.nearestKey(time).index;
if (c.key(n).time > time) n--;
if ( n > 0)
{
accum = c.key(n).value * (time - c.key(n).time);
for (i = n; i > 0; i--)
{
if (i == 1)
{
accum += c.key(1).time * c.valueAtTime(0);
}
else
{
accum += c.key(i-1).value * (c.key(i).time - c.key(i-1).time);
}
}
}
else
{
accum = time*c.valueAtTime(0);
}

//if its your last start before the end of the period adjust the time so it ends when it should
if (n == lastStart && lastStart != 0)
{
lastTime = c.key(n).time;
rate = (periodLength*60 - accum)/(c.key(n+1).time - c.key(n).time);
}
else if((n - 1) == lastStart && lastStart != 0)
{
accum = periodLength*60;
}
}
else
{
accum = time*c.valueAtTime(0);
}

//format the acculated time for the time format
if (rate == 1)
{
secLeft = (periodLength*60 - accum);
}
else
{
secLeft = (periodLength*60 - accum) - rate*(time - lastTime)
}

//do we need decimals
if (secLeft <= 0.05)
{
clockTime = "0:00";
}
else if (secLeft < 60)
{
secs = Math.floor(secLeft%60);

if (decimals)
{
ms = secLeft.toFixed(1).substr(-1);
clockTime = secs+"."+ms;
}
else
{
clockTime = "0:"+padZero(secs);
}
}
else
{
mins = Math.floor((secLeft%3600)/60);
secs = Math.floor(secLeft%60);
clockTime = mins+":"+padZero(secs);
}

clockTime;


Basically all you need is the text layer obviously and a null object which you use a checkbox control. Add keyframes to the control using On when you wan the clock to run and OFF when you want it to stop and not run.

Nick

[Bryan Shepherd]

Greetings!

I’m trying to incorporate your countdown script into a football overlay scoreboard, however, I’m getting an error when I try to run your script:

thisComp is undefined

This error occurs on line 19:
c = thisComp.layer("Period 1").effect("Checkbox Control")("Checkbox"); // checkbox

I have tried to copy and paste it again, but I keep getting the same error. Any suggestions?

[Nick Leigh]

Hey Bryan,

I would like to help you if I can. I have improved my scripts a bit since posting this one. Can you tell me a little abou the process you are using and what you would like to have as a final output.

Nick

CS5 Production Suite

[Bryan Shepherd]

I work for a semi-pro football team, and we have a couple of stock games that I would like to add a more functional scoreboard overlay to. We already have a half-done scoreboard overlay that we use. We create images in photoshop for our game, then use the text editor in manycam to type in the score and what quarter it is, but we have to use spaces to line them up right, and it just looks bad. I would like to create something similar to that, but use aftereffects to line everything up centered, plus have a clock count-down on it.

As of right now, I am using the run scripts option on the file menu. I’m relatively new to after effects, but I’ve been using vegas pro for a couple of years now.

Any assistance or tips you can throw my way would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

Bryan D. Shepherd