ATEM Global Hotkeys

The BlackMagic ATEM Mini allows you to use hotkeys on your computer to switch input sources. 

But there's a catch: you have to click on the ATEM Software Control window first. So you have to pretty much dedicate your computer to the ATEM Software Control. You can't minimise the ATEM Software Control screen to do anything else. 

This is because the hotkeys are local hotkeys - they don't work as soon as you click on another window.

Here's a quick AutoIT script that turns the hotkeys into Global Hotkeys. It will let you use CTRL-1, CTRL-2, CTRL-3, CTRL-4 to switch ATEM sources, no matter which program you're using.

To use, just:

1. Install ATEM Software Control "ATEM Switchers 8.7.1 Update" from here: https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/support/family/atem-live-production-switchers

2. Download the atem_global_hotkeys.zip file below and open it.

3. Double-click on "atem_global_hotkeys.exe".

4. Press CTRL-1 to CTRL-4 to change sources in the ATEM Mini, no matter what program you are using!

To run the program automatically on startup:

1. Unzip the zip file.

2. Double-click on install.bat. This copies "atem_global_hotkeys.exe" to the local startup folder.

NOTE: It seems that Google thinks this simple AutoIT script is a virus. So it won't let you download it :-(

There's no easy way around it without me setting up a whole bunch of other things so for now if you can't see the download below then it's too bad.

NOTE: You have to make sure that ATEM Software Control isn't stuck in CUT mode - you may need to press CTRL once to get out of this mode. This is an annoying bug that Blackmagic won't fix.

TODO: I currently don't have access to a Blackmagic so I can't do this fix - but basically use AutoIT to resize the ATEM Software Control to minimum size, so that the CUT button is always in the same place, then use the pixel grab function in AutoIT to read the pixel colour. Then press CTRL to turn CUT off. I wish Blackmagic would just make CTRL+1 etc global hotkeys, but they don't offer this function for some reason.

If you pair this with OBS Advanced Scene Switcher you can trigger the ATEM Mini to change source when you change scenes! Very useful for automation. Here's how to set this up: