Describe an LED surface
A surface tells ArenaDirector:
- The size of your cabinets.
- The sections of the installation.
- The screen that its sending card shows up as.
- How the surface folds onto that card.
A canvas that points to the surface takes its sections and its size from the surface.
To create a surface, go to Configuration → Venue → Patch and select + Add output → LED boards. The LED surface page opens for the new board. See Add an output.
To edit a surface later, select it on Patch and then select Edit LED surface. To go back to Patch, select ← Patch. Your changes save immediately.
A surface is an output like any other. You connect a canvas to it on Patch the same way you connect a canvas to a display or an NDI stream, and you remove the connection the same way too.
You now configure a surface as an output. Surfaces from an older configuration do not carry over to the new version, so you have to describe them again. Each canvas that used a surface shows as a plain canvas until you point a new surface at it.
This change also resets every zone: target, because ArenaDirector makes new section
ids. Point each rotation, hot button and sequence step that targets a section at the
section again. The app does not show a notice about this. See
Release notes.
The LED surface page
| Part | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Header | The venue, the name of the surface, On air when a canvas plays on it, the screen of its sending card, Check pattern and Remove output… |
| Surface | A preview of the surface. A perimeter shows as one strip with its sections in colour. A wall shows as its grid of cabinets. |
| Type and cabinets | The type, the cabinet count and the cabinet size |
| Sections | The sections, in order along the surface |
| Sending card | The screen of the card and the fold |
The line under the name shows the sending card's screen and its size. If the surface has no screen, it shows Not connected to a sending card yet.
Set the type and the cabinets
- Under Type and cabinets, in Name, type a name you can easily identify when you travel.
- Set Type to LED perimeter for a line beside the playing area, or LED wall for a flat grid.
- In Cabinets (wide × high), enter the number of cabinets. A perimeter is 1 cabinet high.
- In Cabinet size (width × height), enter the size of one cabinet in pixels.
Name the surface after the venue, not the board.
Set Type before you add sections. Changing Type removes all the sections and keeps the cabinet count and cabinet size, with the same effect as removing each section yourself: see Rename and remove sections.
LED wall and LED perimeter are available on Club and higher plans. See Plans and limits.
The cabinet size is the loading area of one receiving card, not one module. Get it from your commissioning software, which usually lists it as the size of the receiving card.
Pitch (optional) only changes the values in metres in the Surface summary. If you do not know the pitch, leave it at 0.
Surface size shows the pixel size of the whole surface once you have entered a valid cabinet size and a cabinet count.
Configure the sections
Each section plays its own content. A new surface has no sections, and Sections shows No sections yet. Until you add a section, rotations play on the whole surface.
- Under Sections, select + Add section.
- In Name, type a name for the section.
- In Cabinets, enter the number of cabinets in the section.
From shows the section's first cabinet, counted along the surface from 1. To reorder the sections, drag the handle at the left of a row.
Adding, changing or removing a section does not change the surface's cabinet count. Cabinets that are in no section show at the end of the strip without a name, and they play the content of the whole surface.
Make a section for each part of the board that needs its own content. Rotations, hot buttons and sequences address sections. See LED boards.
Rename and remove sections
Renaming a section is safe: all content that points to it keeps playing under the new name.
To remove a section, select ✕ in its row. If no content uses the section, ArenaDirector removes it immediately. If content uses it, the app asks you first and lists that content.
After you remove a section, its cabinets belong to no section and play the content of the whole surface. An item list made for the section stays in its editor, and the app shows that it cannot play.
Fold onto a sending card
If the surface is wider than your sending card's input, turn on Fold under Sending card. See Fold onto a sending card.
Delete a surface
- On the LED surface page, select Remove output….
- Read the list of content that will no longer play anywhere, and select Remove.
ArenaDirector removes the surface and returns to Patch.
If a surface is not in the configuration
If a canvas names a surface that is not in the configuration, the canvas tells you. It keeps the reference, so when you restore the surface, the canvas uses it again automatically.