On June 28th, Nacsport 9.0 was released, bringing a host of new features and benefits to all Nacsport users. I'm really excited to bring Nacsport Hub to our community and I know that Mac users are going to benefit from getting access to Nacsport Pro and Elite, but most importantly, Dashboards and Graphic Descriptors too!
I've created this post to help you get the most out of Nacsport 9.0, especially if you are already in our Nacsport community. I'll share some pointers, advice and things to take into account when updating to Nacsport 9.0. I encourage you all to take a look at the full release post from Nacsport first though!
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So, let me get stuck into sharing some further details on the things I believe you need to know when updating.
Dashboards in Nacsport 9.0
In Nacsport 9.0, Dashboards and Graphic Descriptors are available on macOS! These are hugely popular and powerful tools, so get stuck into them. Please note that currently, you can't share a Dashboard from a PC to Mac or Mac to PC. It will come in the future though.
Dashboards are much easier to build and edit in V9 on Windows and Mac. With the editing panel on the left (showing all your elements), you also have a way to show/hide elements, which is really useful when making data labels relative to each other and not needing to show one of those data labels for example.
When using Pro or Elite, you'll be able to playback clips by clicking on the graphic descriptor field or specific points on the field with Nacsport 9.0. This makes those powerful dashboards even more interactive! (This is currently only possible on Windows).
When you add new elements to a Dashboard, they may go behind items which are already on the Dashboard, so using the edit panel on the left is useful for selecting elements to 'find' them again if you experience that.
Previously, there was a single dash.board file in the NAC SPORT DATA folder which contained Dashboard files (people could export them individually to share with others). When you run V9, Nacsport will automatically export those existing Dashboard files to be a .dashboard, so they behave like tagging window and analysis files. This means that folders can be used for organising multiple Dashboards in the 'Dashboard' folder in NAC SPORT DATA, and when copying from PC to PC or Mac to Mac, you only have to share the .dashboard or .dashboardmac to another machine to copy into the same location.
Once you update to 9.0, most of your Dashboards will look exactly the same as before the update, but some larger window Dashboards may have elements that are moved further down the window than they were before (items at the bottom will have moved further down than items at the top). You'll notice this most if using a background image on your Dashboard. They are quick to edit though and the video below will explain more about Dashboard files and how to apply the changes you may need.
Multiple Analysis Combinations
From Nacsport Scout, you have the ability to open multiple analysis at once in the timeline, which is great for reviewing a combined multiple matrix and adding clips from different timelines into a single presentation window. With Nacsport Pro and Elite, you now have enhanced ways of reviewing the data from different timelines too.
The two key tools for this are the 'Clip Filter' (previously Search Tool), which can be accessed from the main menu or in a timeline, and the Dashboard. In Pro you can combine data from up to three analyses at once and in Elite, you can combine data from as many different analyses as you want.
With the Clip Filter, you add the analyses you want to review into the tool then look for combinations of categories and descriptors to find specific clips, which can be reviewed, exported and added to presentation windows.
With the Dashboard, you add the analyses you want to combine and then can easily switch between Dashboard results for one analysis at a time or all of the analyses combined together. With Elite, you can also open up other Dashboards in the same way, so you can switch between different Dashboard views for your combined analysis too.
Live Capture and YouTube
There is a new capture module in Nacsport 9.0, which can be turned on by going to the main menu, pressing the three dots at the top, clicking configuration, then in the 'General' area, turning on 'Use Capture Core 2023'.
This is a more robust capture module and enables 4 angle capture for Nacsport Elite. The capture profile settings are easier to understand too, but if you have any questions about live capture, we are always here to help!
With the 'YouTube' option, you can take a live YouTube feed to do a live capture, but a really useful workflow is pasting in a YouTube link for an existing video too. If you do that, Nacsport will give you the option to download the video so you can start tagging it quickly (and not have to work live). A useful way of getting some content!
Please note that if YouTube make big changes to their video handling, we can't guarantee that the Live YouTube feed capture will work in Nacsport, as it would require a change on our side too (which would take time if/when that happens), but the download option should still work fine.
When using Pro or Elite, you also have the ability to quickly export clips during the capture and put them into a preset folder, like a Google Drive/Dropbox location to give another way to share things live.
Presentation Window Playback
We all know how easy it is to add KlipDraw telestration into the clips in our presentation windows, but sometimes you need to quickly point something out in a team meeting too. When using Pro or Elite, you now have a new way to add quick drawings over the video player whilst you are presenting, which is really useful.
UI Changes to Language
We made changes to the user interface on Nacsport to make it easier for everyone to understand and explain. So there will be new terminologies that you see in the software and resources supporting it (which we continue to create).
Tagging Windows
The way to add/change hotkeys for the buttons in your tagging windows is improved, giving more options of keys to be used. If using Pro or Elite, you can also use the same hotkey for buttons on different panels that you have open and if using Elite, you can use a hotkey as a cluster pin. This is a way of using the cluster feature (clicking multiple buttons at once if they are overlaid), without having to click with your mouse.
Currently, when sharing tagging windows from PC to Mac and Mac to PC, the graphic descriptor may not copy across properly. That is being worked on though of course.
Nacsport Pro and Elite users can benefit from using clustered buttons and panel flows to enhance their tagging process and data collection. In Nacsport 9.0, both of these features are available on macOS too. In Elite, you can use the Cluster Pin to get the cluster behaviour when using your keyboard hotkeys instead of clicking, which I know will be popular, especially for you hotkey addicts!
Groups in Tagging Windows
This is a big change in Nacsport. I know people have used groups for comparing elements in a Dashboard and for one of the XLS export options, but the groups feature can now change how you visualise data in the Matrix if using Pro or Elite, as you can see the groups and watch group clips or combinations for both categories and descriptors.
This does mean that when using your matrix preset, you have to bear the groups in mind.
You can reorder descriptors/categories within a group, and you can reorder the position of groups on both axis, but categories/descriptors stay within the assigned group and can't move out of it. For categories/descriptors without a group, they will belong to a 'fake group' (ungrouped items), which behaves in the same way.
Quick Share Links
These enable you to share a tagging window, presentation or analysis with a simple click and URL. It's much faster to get your content around your team with this tool. Even better? You can share between Mac and PC and PC and Mac with this too!
Quick Share Links can be opened in Nacsport Scout but you need Nacsport Pro to create a link to share.
Nacsport Hub
This is what I'm most excited about. We provided the Sharimg platform before, but now that has become Nacsport Hub to be better integrated with Nacsport. It's a perfect tool for uploading videos, presentations, analysis and documents for multiple people to review and interact with.
The tool is focussed around communication, interaction and empowering your team to get the most out of the content you upload. The fact that everyone can create clips and share new and existing content in the social media style Team Channel means that interaction is easy and regular, just what you need in a team.
There is also an app on iOS and Android too. I love it!
Power to Pro
The majority of our community use the Nacsport Scout software, which has of course benefited from Nacsport 9.0 and is already packed with plenty of amazing features. For me, Nacsport 9.0 has really pushed the boundaries for benefits and workflows in Nacsport Pro.
Being able to show a Dashboard with combined results from up to three games, find specific clips from up to three games to build a presentation with, share resources to others with Quick Share, scrub back through the video when capturing live, interact with your graphic descriptors on a Dashboard and add quick drawings when presenting are some seriously impactful tools for you.
It's a great time to consider upgrading from Scout to Pro and our team would love to explore this further with you! Just get in touch and we can discuss the comparisons and benefits together to ensure you can maximise your impact.
We'll continue to update our Knowledge Base with new videos and resources and if you need assistance, don't forget that as a member of our AnalysisPro community, our support team are here to help!
