Create a canvas
A canvas is a video destination. You do not need any hardware to create one: the preview starts straight away, and you can attach a screen later.
Open Configuration and, under Show, select Canvases. The list on the left shows each canvas as a small black frame in its shape, with its resolution and an On air chip while it shows content. A canvas that plays on no output of the current venue shows "plays nowhere" in amber next to its resolution.
When the window is narrower than 1500 px, the list folds into the canvas name at the top of the pane. Select the name to open the list, and select + to add a canvas.
With no canvas yet, the pane shows No canvases yet with + Add canvas and Open Patch.
The header
The header shows a live picture of the selected canvas, captioned live while it is on
air and idle otherwise. Next to it are the name with the On air chip and a
summary line giving the resolution, the default fit, the default transition and the
number of outputs in the current venue, for example 1920 × 1080 · Fit · Dissolve 500 ms · 2 outputs in Home arena. The line turns amber if the canvas plays nowhere in this venue.
The header also has the Enabled switch and Remove canvas….
Create and size it
- Select + (New canvas), or + Add canvas on the empty pane.
- In the Format card, type a Name.
- Set the Resolution:
- For a standard size, select a preset: 1080p · 1920 × 1080, 720p · 1280 × 720, 4K · 3840 × 2160 or Portrait · 1080 × 1920.
- For any other size, type the values in Width and Height, or select Custom….
A new canvas starts at 1920 × 1080 with a live preview. Pick a name you will still recognize in a target list months from now; usually that is the name of the board the canvas drives.
The app composites the canvas at this resolution. The width can be 64 to 16384 px and the height 64 to 8192 px. A new name or size takes effect when you leave the field.
The Free and Audio plans allow one canvas, and the Club plan allows three. On Free and Audio, any canvas after the first shows Club required in the list. A locked canvas's header shows Club required and not playing on with the name of your plan, and its cards are read-only. See Plans and limits.
Media that doesn't match
Media that doesn't match sets the fit that a new connection from this canvas gets on Patch when the canvas and the output differ in size:
- Fit scales the full canvas into view.
- Fill covers the output and crops the picture.
- Native does not scale.
When the canvas and the output are the same size, a new connection starts on Native. Changing this setting leaves existing connections alone. To change the fit of one connection, use its Connection panel on Patch.
Drive an LED surface instead
You connect the canvas to an LED surface on Patch, the same way as a screen. The surface supplies the cabinet grid and the sections. See Describe an LED surface.
Once a surface is connected, Resolution becomes read-only because the surface sets it. It shows the resolution that leaves the computer:
- On a folded surface, that is the sending card's Card input.
- On an unfolded surface, it is the Surface size.
You set both values on the surface, in Configuration → Venue → Patch. The app lays out content in the wall's own pixels. For the reason, see Canvases, surfaces and displays.
A canvas with no LED surface is an ordinary screen canvas, and rotations do not offer it as a target.
Set the transition
The Default transition card controls how content changes on this canvas, for rotation items, hot buttons and sequences alike.
- Select the canvas.
- In Default transition, select a transition:
- Cut changes the picture immediately.
- Dissolve crossfades from the old picture to the new one.
- Dip fades out to black, then fades in. This setting used to be called Fade, and a canvas saved with a fade opens as Dip with the same duration.
- Wipe reveals the new picture across the frame.
- Push slides the new picture in while the old one slides out.
- If you did not select Cut, set Duration in milliseconds and set Easing to Linear or Ease. With Cut, both are unavailable and the card shows "Cut has no duration".
- For Wipe and Push, set Direction: Left to right, Right to left, Top to bottom or Bottom to top. For the other transitions, Direction is unavailable and the card shows "Direction applies to Wipe and Push".
Linear moves the picture at a constant speed, and Ease starts and ends the movement slowly. A wipe keeps the edge softness it had before, although the pane no longer shows that setting.
Switching to or from an idle loop that is hidden behind an overlay always cuts, because the loop is not on screen and there is nothing to transition.
Set the idle content
Idle content is what the canvas shows when nothing else is using it. In the When nothing plays card, select one of these:
- Black sets no idle content of its own, so the canvas shows the built-in ArenaDirector idle clip, the logo loop that ships with the app.
- Image or Clip loop shows a file you select with Choose…. The card shows a
preview of the file with its name and details, for example
1920 × 1080 · 0:30 loop. The file type decides whether it is an Image or a Clip loop. With Image, Choose… opens the media picker with the chip Images only and shows the images as tiles. With Clip loop, the picker shows the chip Video and images and a list. Find the file with the search field, the folder list or Tags ▾, select it, and then select Choose. - Stream shows a live input stream, which you select in Stream. It needs the Pro plan. On lower plans the Stream segment is dimmed with a Pro chip, and selecting it offers the upgrade. A canvas that already shows a stream on a lower plan keeps it selected, and the card shows "Input streams need Pro". A disabled stream appears in the list with "(disabled)", and the card shows "Stream disabled". Stream stays grey until you add an input stream.
For Clip loop and Stream, use Sound plays on to pick the buses for the sound. Leave it at Off for no audio.
If a stream drops
The If a stream drops card applies only when When nothing plays is Stream. For the other choices it is unavailable and shows "Backup applies to Stream". Select:
- Off to show nothing.
- Backup media to show an image or clip that you select with Choose….
- Backup stream to show another input stream. With no input stream it stays grey, and the card shows "Add an input stream first".
The canvas switches to the backup when the stream is lost or not yet connected and its hold time has run out.
A stream that stalls does not trigger the backup. The canvas goes back to the stream once it has been live for 3 seconds without interruption. If a stream connects within its hold time, the canvas shows it immediately. If you disable the stream, the canvas switches to its backup, or shows nothing.
Idle content plays only while it is visible. If something covers the canvas, an image or clip stops, and it starts again from the beginning when the canvas is visible again. A stream keeps receiving data, so its tile stays live, but its idle audio stops while the canvas is covered.
A hot button or sequence with Fade out other audio on shared buses when started on the idle audio's bus fades out the idle audio. The idle audio comes back when that hot button or sequence stops.
If you edit the stream's source while it is on air, the canvas shows Connecting and then the stream again.
See where it plays
You connect a canvas to its outputs on Patch, not here: drag a cable from the canvas to a screen, an LED board or a network feed. See Add an output and Patch the show.
The Patched to card is read-only. Under the name of the current venue, it lists each
connected output that plays this canvas, with its fit, size and refresh rate, for example
Native · 1920 × 1080 · 50 Hz. A network feed shows only its fit. Outputs that are
disconnected, missing in this venue or switched off on their cable are left out.
Open Patch → opens Patch.
If no output plays the canvas, the card shows "Plays nowhere in this venue" with Connect in Patch. Under Other venues, the card lists the canvas's outputs in your other venues.
An LED surface's mapping check pattern is on its page in Configuration → Venue → Patch. See Fold onto a sending card.
See what uses it
The Used by card counts the hot buttons, sequences, overlays and rotations that target this canvas.
Remove a canvas
Select Remove canvas… in the header. The app asks "Remove name?" and, if hot buttons, sequences or other items target the canvas, lists them; they play nowhere until you pick another canvas. Select Remove to remove the canvas. You cannot undo this.
Disable a canvas you do not need
Switch Enabled off in the header, or clear Enabled in the right-click menu of the canvas's tile.
A disabled canvas keeps all its settings and connections, but it does not render and uses no graphics memory. To use it again, switch Enabled on, and the canvas starts with its idle picture.
If the canvas is on air, the app first asks "Disable name?". Select Disable now to cut its outputs to black immediately.
A video that targets only disabled canvases is skipped entirely, soundtrack included.