Render Setup Editor

Introduction

The Render Setup Editor is part of the Ventuz Configuration and is used to create a configuration for complex display walls.

The content and Previsualization Scenes for such displays may come from a single or multiple Ventuz machines. Generally speaking, the Render Setup Editor is used to solve following problem: Display Ventuz content correctly on an arbitrarily complex display wall built up of N displays connected to M machines.

To learn more about using multiple machines and clustering take a look here.

In other words, the Render Setup is the link between the design canvas and the actual physical output of the graphics card(s). Be it a simple bezel compensation, a projection blend, a 4 x 1 stripe of LED panels that is fed from one output, to complex setups with rotated displays.

User Interface

The editor consists of two main modes the Layout Mode and Mapping mode. Inside the Layout Mode, Compositions and Screens are configured; while in the Mapping Mode screens are assigned to physical outputs.

To open the Render Setup editor, open the Configuration Editor and open the Project Management tab, now select the Project this setup should be for. Create a new Render Setup by  clicking the button on the right side of the window.

Layout Mode

Once the new Render Setup is created, the Render Setup window will automatically open in the Layout Mode. Generally speaking this is the mode where you set the stage for you presentation, add screens and use compositions to set the frame for your rendering. To learn more about the handling of our new output system read this page.

1. Mode Change:

• Change between the Layout and Mapping mode

2. Previs:

• Select Previsualization Scenes currently available inside your .vzp Ventuz Project via the Pencil icon, make sure you saved them recently after a upgrade to a higher version or you wont be able to see your scenes. Or Import Compositions from Previs scenes via the import button

3. Close and Save:

• Close: Closes the Render Setup Editor
• Save: Saves the recent changes and applies them. This will also apply it to a running runtime which can interrupt the rendering!
• Undo: Undo your changes, CTRL+Z also works.
• Live: Click this Checkbox to see your changes in real time when the associated project is running in Ventuz Runtime.

4. Machine Selection:

• Currently selected machine. Select the appropriate machine before going into the Editor.

5. Compositions:

• Select and add Compositions inside the Tree View. Via its possible to add either Instances or new Compositions. A Double click lets you change the name, this is also possible inside the Properties Window (11) The Default Composition name cannot be changed. Deleting is done by and using the drop down menu. Here you can also change the Rendering Order of the compositions. If multiple Compositions are placed on the same output the render order may need to be changed to achieve your desired results. To accomplish this, simply  drag+drop to change it.

6. Screens: Select via and add Screens with the . Adding Screens and Compositions is also possible by right clicking inside the view window depending on the mode you are in. 7. TUIO Touch areas:

• Add or delete TUIO Touch areas to define which parts of your setup should be interactive. Windows touch is not assignable through this area. Use the Multi capabilities and touch groups for Windows Touch that can be found inside of the Machine Configuration Window.

8. Contextual Controls:

• Depending on the mode you are in these buttons offers the functions to add objects. Like you can by using the tree view or inside the view window.

9. Mode Selection:

• The Render setup editor has different "editing" modes. To only edit Compositions use the button on the left. Right beside that is the Screens edit button and besides that you can find the Touch area edit mode. Or use the ALL button to be able to select everything either in a multi selection or one by one.

10. View Options:

• Reset View
  • Reset the workspace view to 0.0.
• Show Canvas
  • Shows the Canvas(es)

11. Property Editor:

• Holds the properties of selected elements. Measurements can be in metric or imperial units.

12. Workspace:

Displays the created elements and allows editing of these elements. See Shortcuts for full list of hotkeys.

• Use  Drag to move elements around
• Hold down the middle mouse button to pan the view
• to open the context menu
• Using the scroll wheel will zoom the view in and out

13. Measurement Tool:

• Enables the Measurement Tool, use this to measure distances between elements. Displayed in centimeters. on a edge or corner of a element and drag it over to a second point.

Render Setup Elements

Compositions

---

1. Color

• Changes the color of the Composition

2. Name

• Changes the Name of the Composition. This is locked for Default Compositions

3:Fit to Screen

• This is a unique feature for the Default Composition, when turned off the composition wont scale with screens moved inside it anymore

4. Dimension

• Sets the Virtual Dimension for the Composition

5. Render Order

• Changes the Rendering Order

6. Rotation

• Displays the current rotation value of the selected element. This can be changed by dragging the property, directly typing in it or by using the dot in the upper right corner of the view port

7. Pixel Density

• Sets the Pixel Density per cm/inch for the Composition

8. Physical Size

• Sets the Physical size of the Composition

9. Diagonal

• The Diagonal width of the Composition

10. Blend Mode

• Sets the Blending mode for the Compositions. This only applies for stacked compositions

11. Blend Amount

• The Amount of blending, lower values means less blending of the elements

12. Allow Scaling

• Enables the Scaling function, only usable for instanced content

Screens

---

1. Color

• Changes the color of the Composition

2. Name

• Changes the Name of the Composition. This is locked for Default Compositions

3. Resolution

• Sets the Virtual Resolution of the Screen

4. Pixel Density

• Sets the Pixel Density per cm/inch for the Screen

5. Physical Size

• Sets the Physical size of the Screen

6. Diagonal

• The Diagonal width of the Screen

7. Bezel

• Activates the Bezel function for the selected screen/s

8. Allow Scaling

• Enables the Scaling function, only usable for instanced content

9. Render Filter

• Use this to filter out specific content by choosing different Render Filter groups, only functioning in conjunction with the Render Filter node

10. Rotation

• Displays the current rotation value of the selected element. This can be changed by dragging the property, directly typing in it or by using the dot in the upper right corner of the view port

TUIO Touch Areas

1. Color

• Changes the color of the Touch Area

2. Name

• Changes the Name of the Touch Area

5. Physical Size

• Sets the Physical size of the Touch Area

Measurement Tool

By using the measurement button in the lower right corner the user is able to measure distances between different elements in centimeter or inches. Clicking on the measurement button again will hide all measurements.

Set a measurement:

on a edge or corner of a element and drag it over to a second point to create a measurement. Holding CTRL and using the to adjust set points.

Deleting Measurements:

By on a existing measurement and hitting DEL will delete the measurement line. Alternatively you can also hold CTRL and  drag a point into empty space to delete it.

Changing the Render Order

---

When stacking Compositions on to each other it may be necessary to change their render order. To do that, simply  drag and drop the Composition to the desired place in the Tree view. As always in Ventuz, the Render order starts from the top going downwards.

Blending

---

Blending can be adjusted for stacked compositions by using the properties for each Composition.

Solid: No blending is used

Alpha: Enables Alpha Blending

Add: Additive RGB blending

Multiplicative: Multiplies the RGB blending

Smooth Additive: Smoother additive blending

Composition Instancing

---

Instancing Compositions can be used to show the same content multiple times, in different positions or different resolutions. When "Allow Scaling" is enabled, Ventuz will render the scene elements one time and scale them to fit the corresponding Compositions. Scaling saves system resources. Ensure the aspect ratio is correct for these instanced Compositions otherwise, your content might end up stretched or squished.

Default Composition

The Default Composition inside the Render Setup Editor is behaving a little different then other ones. This Composition will automatically scale with screens that are on it. The Name of the Composition also cant be changed.

In order to free screens of the automatic scaling inside the Default Composition uncheck the "Fit to Screen" property on the Default Composition or use the scaling handles of the composition and remove the Screen from it. Deleting the Default Composition inside the Render Setup Editor wont brake anything inside the Designer. Still the Default Composition Layer will be present when another Composition layer is inserted but can be safely ignored.

Mapping Mode

With the Mapping mode it is possible to assign Screens to Outputs, add new machines, or shape and warp the Outputs.

1. Mode Change:

• Change between the Layout and Mapping Mode.

2. Previs:

• Select Previsualization Scenes currently available inside your .vzp Ventuz Project via the Pencil icon. Or Import Previs scenes from other Project with the import button.

3. Close and Save:

• Close: Closes the Render Setup Editor
• Save: Saves the recent changes and applies them. This will also apply it to a running runtime which can interrupt the rendering!
• Undo: Undo your changes, CTRL+Z also works.

4. Mode Selection:

• The Mapping mode has two different "editing" modes. Either use the Screen or Touch mode.

5. View Options:

• Show Machines: Will highlight machine boarders with a white dotted line.
• Reset View: Resets the workspace view to 0.0

6. Add machines:

• Adds another machine to the Output list.

7. Shaping & Warping:

• Select a screen to Warp and use this button to get into the Shaping&Warping editor.

8. Property Editor:

• Holds the properties of selected elements. Measurements can be in Metric or Imperial.

9. Machine Options:

• Use the Pencil to edit the currently used MachineID. Or use the bucket to delete the machine with its outputs.

10. Add Outputs:

• Add outputs to the machine.

11. Workspace:

• Workspace which shows the machine boarder as well as all configured Screens and Touch areas

12. Output Options: There are three output types available:

• Single Screen: the output will only use one screen.
• Grid: Allows to assign multiple screens to one output.
• Manual: Adjust the output resolution manually.

13. Output Workspace:

• Shows the output in its chosen configuration. Selectable with the . Pan the view with the middle mouse button. And use the scroll wheel to zoom in and out.

14. TUIO Touch inputs:

• Add TUIO touch inputs to the output. It is possible to either use the Touch areas in the Layout mode or directly assign complete screens to a TUIO touch input.

Coordinate Space

The Screens and Compositions in the Render Setup Editor lie in a real world sized coordinate space. The origin of this coordinate space is the middle starting with (0.0.).

Logical vs. Visual Resolution

In the context of the Render Setup configuration we talk about Logical and Visual Resolutions. These terms will be explained here. The logical resolution of a machine can be defined by the Mosaic or Eyefinity configuration of the graphics board. A 2x2 display setup with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 px per display has a logical resolution of 3840 x 2160 pixels.

The visual resolution however is defined by final position of the displays in the Render Setup configuration. In the example below the displays are arranged horizontally and have bezel between each other. This leads to the visual resolution of 8247 x 1080 pixel.

Manipulating a Render Setup

Selecting and Moving Elements

Elements can be selected by simply  click. Multi selection is possible by dragging a selection frame  drag around elements inside the All mode.

Elements that can be selected are the Screens, Compositions,and Touch areas. Each of these elements have there separate editing modes.

Moving is done by dragging and dropping, scaling can be done by the indicator on the Compositions. Selecting items in the tree view also changes the modes accordingly		Rotations can be snapped to 10° or 5° using CTRL(10) or ALT(5)
Use the All mode to quickly move a bunch of elements		Scaling only works for Compositions and TUIO Touch Areas, to resize screens use the Property Editor

Bezel and Overlap

To create an equal bezel or overlap between multiple elements, use the grid function when creating new screens.

Bezels can be corrected anytime by using the Bezel property adjustment. Overlaps have to be manually adjusted.

Output Types

Using the Mapping Mode it is possible to change to different output types, assign multiple screens to the same output or use only specific parts of a given screen by using Cuts.

To change to different output types use the pencil button.

Single

Uses a single screen on the output. Assign a screen by  drag + drop from the left pane onto the desired output on the right.

Grid

Assign multiple complete Screens to a single output in a grid which can be individually customized.

Manual

Gives the user full control of the output size, individual screen size and position. Rotating the output in 90° steps is possible here.
It is possible to use the same screen multiple times by applying them to multiple outputs.

While in manual mode, it is possible to link the size or aspect of the output to the individual cuts.

Link Size: Links the output size directly to the screen size.

Link Aspect: Links the aspect of the cut to the screen.

Unlinked: Screen and outputs are handled individually. The output will be scaled accordingly.

Cuts

In general as soon as one uses either the Grid or Manual mode the output will be cut into multiple pieces. Indicated by the small label on the lower left.

M0 = Machine + ID

O0 = Output + Number of output starting with 0

C1 = Cut + Number of the cut counting upwards from 1

Properties

1:

• Deletes the currently selected screen from inside the output

2:

• Output label also shown on the screen itself inside the output mapping in the lower left corner

3:

• Dropdown menu to change to different screens for the output

4:

• Seperation groups

5:

• Choose the rotation of the screen inside the output. This can be also done by using the handle in the upper right corner when clicking on a screen inside a output.

6:

• Menu to enable different mirror modes for the output

*Mirror H: Mirrors horizontally *Mirror V: Mirrors Vertically

7:

• Enable or disable Warping&Shaping for the selected screen

8:

• Screen Position: displays the current X and Y position of the screen cut outside of the output.
• Screen Size: the current size of the selected screen. This can be independent from the actual output size which will be rendered.
• Output Position: the current position of the screen inside of the output.
• Output Size: actual used render size for the selected screen.

9:

• Link Size: Links the output size directly to the screen size.

• Link Aspect: Links the aspect of the cut to the screen.

• Unlinked: Screen and outputs are handled individually. The output will be scaled accordingly.

Separation

By using different separation groups for output cuts its possible to use the rendering more efficiently.

Without separation groups:

Ventuz will render everything in one single rectangle.

With separation groups:

Ventuz will render single screens separately.

Machine ID

The machine ID makes sure that a Ventuz scene can determine which part of the overall clustered content will be rendered. This is done by comparing the current machine ID to the machine ID specified in the Render Setup. Currently the machine IDs are assigned automatically. If a new machine is added to an existing Render Setup configuration, the smallest free ID is taken. If you want to change the System ID of a machine, click on the small pencil while being in the Mapping mode. It is possible to setup multiple machines whether or not they're physically present or connected to the system.

TUIO Touch Area

The TUIO Touch Area allows remapping of incoming touch data to a custom area of the used #Screens. Ventuz Input Subsystem receives the touch data from attached touch devices. The touch is interpreted in normalized coordinates from 0,0 to 1,0 from the top left corner to the bottom right corner. By default, there is no TUIO Touch Area and will apply to all outputs. To specifically assign touch to either screens or outputs use the Mapping Mode.

Examples and Scenarios

Depending on the editing mode you are in it is possible to edit elements in different ways. By default, the Render Setup will always have a default #Screens and a #default Composition. Starting with the Compositions' editing mode, it will highlight the currently used Compositions. on a compositions will enable the possibility for direct scaling or rotating. Use the arrows to scale and the small dot in the upper right corner to rotate. All these options are also available inside the Propertys window on the right.

In this example use the Render Setup Editor, there is a simple two screen setup where the content is spanned two Full HD screens. In Ventuz 6 this required a display span mode like Mosaic to work. Now this can be achieved using several different approaches without the need for Mosaic or Eyefinity.

In this case, add a second screen and place it right beside the default one to achieve a dual output setup.

All the settings seen in the Pop up window, except for the adding of new compositions directly, will also be available inside the property window.

Use the middle mouse button to pan the view. Or scroll the middle mouse wheel to zoom in and out. click and drag on any element this will shift it around inside the workspace. Snapping is also always on which should help you align elements easily.

As you can see the Default Compositions scaled with the new screen inserted, this wont be the case for any other composition then the default. This feature exists to make simpler setups faster and easier to achieve. It can be disabled by unchecking the "Fit to Screens" option in the properties pane.
Open the Mapping mode by  clicking on "Mapping" in the top left corner to assign those Screens to the outputs we want to use. The Composition in this case is defining the area which we want to render content, therefore we need to have screens to assign to the outputs.

As you can see on the left, Ventuz doesnt know about the second screen yet, which is indicated by the white dotted line (the machine boarder). To assign it, we need to add another output to the machine, we can also directly assign the screen to it by using the drop down menu inside the pop up window. Or  drag + drop screens from the left on to empty output slots on the right. If placing a screen on an output that has a screen already assigned to it, the existing screen will be replaced by the new one.

Now we are done and can start designing content for this new setup. Windows Touch inputs will now use both outputs. To make TUIO inputs work, assign them to the outputs by using the button below. No need to worry about any display group modes anymore! Just make sure that your Device Configuration has also two outputs configured!

Keyboard Shortcuts

Here is an overview of the available mouse and keyboard operations.

	View
Middle mouse button+drag		Pan
Middle mouse wheel		Zoom
CTRL+R		Reset view
	Selection
click		Select
click+drag		Rectangle Selection
click		Context Menu
CTRL  click	Multi Selection	Add/Remove to/from selection
CTRL+A		Select all elements depending on the selected mode
SHIFT+ click+drag		Disable snapping

	Editing
move		Move selection
SHIFT  move		Move selection without snapping
CTRL + Z		Undo
CTRL + Y		Redo
←, →, ↑, ↓		Move selection by 10 pixel
CTRL + ←, →, ↑, ↓		Move selection by 1 pixel
SHIFT + ←, →, ↑, ↓	Multi Selection	Change distance by 10 pixel
CTRL + SHIFT + ←, →, ↑, ↓	Multi Selection	Change distance by 1 pixel
+ drag + CTRL	Rotation	10° snapping
+ drag + ALT	Rotation	5° snapping
CTRL+S		Save changes

Copyright 2023 Ventuz Technology