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Creating a Show - More Options

Display5 offers 4 ways to create a show:

1. Static Panels Template

2. Adjustable Panels Template

3. Free Design Template

4. Video wall or non standard screen resolution layout

Depending on the style of Show that you would like to create you can use one of these three methods to generated the layout that you require.

The difference between the two template based methods and the Free Design is that the templates are NOT editable once you have created them and the PANEL templates do not contain or allow, the layering of panels.Free Design however gives you these two more advanced features.We have already covered the use of the Static Templates method to create a show at the beginning of this user guide, the following sections look at alternate techniques for the Show layout creation.

Adjustable Panels Template

From the left had side menu select the "Create" option and then select "Create a Show" from the list. From the window the appears select the Adjustable Panels Template option.

This will then open a window where you will need to give your Show a name (mandatory) as well as select the time zone and target TV resolution as well as add a description for your Show. Enter the values in these input fields and select the target resolution from the drop down list.

Now that you have entered the information you click on the "Select a template" button at the bottom and you will then see a screen that will offer a choice of screen layouts where you can adjust the panel sizes.

Use the image on the right hand side as a guide to the actual layout end result and select if you wish to see borders or not.Once you have picked a template that you want, you will be able fine tune or tweak it. Click on "Next" and you will see a new screen that contains a graphical representation of the chosen layout (not to scale) and various field boxes overlayed on the screen layout that require you to enter the dimensions - the fine tuning or adjusting of the panel sizes.

In the example above you will see that there is a reminder at the top of the overall screen size and 4 field entry boxes that require a value to be entered. As you input values in these fields, other panels will be automatically adjusted based on the values entered.

You can see in the following diagram that the 4 values have been entered into each of the field boxes:

Now you simply click on the "Next" button in order to save the dimension values you have entered. Once saved the Display5 program will then take you automatically to the Playlist window for the new Show you have created.� Note that the dimensions you have chosen are now shown in the panel list to the left.

You can now go ahead and start to add your slides to the Show Playlist.

Free Design Template

Free design is the most flexible of the Show creation methods and offers you the most versatility in terms of placement and layering of content. Select the "Create a Show" option from the left had menu and then from the window that opens pick the "Free Design Template" option.

You will then be taken to the standard screen for entering the Show name (mandatory) the Show description, Show screen resolution from the drop down menu and the timezone.Select these options and enter the description and then hit the "Create your Template" button at the bottom.

The next screen you will see is the actual show design tool

This is meant to be a canvas onto which you can add, move, adjust and label panels. You can layer Panels on top of each other.When you get to the window seen below,the first thing to do is to hit the Add panel button at the bottom of the screen to add a new panel.

You will notice that when you add a new panel, the panel has blue scroll handles that automatically appear around the panel allowing you to adjust the size by holding your mouse press down and dragging. You will also notice that in the config list on the right hand side the panel label (in this case "panel1") appears in the box, as well as the exact coordinates (top and left) and the precise size in pixels of the panel (default is 250 x 150).This right hand side menu is actually a live menu - you can change all the values of these fields to change the properties of the actual panel you added.Once you have made any changes, click Apply.

Change the label of the panel to something more understandable based on the content that it will hold - e.g. Background Panel. If you are making the panel the full background of the Show, then enter the full width and height of the Show.The dimensions of the Show are always displayed at the top of this window.Click on the Apply button at the bottom of this list. This will cause the panel in the left hand design window (panle1 in this case) to change to reflect the new settings you have entered.

The panel now occupies the whole screen and has a new label. You can click on Delete on the right hand side to remove the selected panel, or you can click on the Start Over button on the bottom left to remove all panels added so far.

Now let's add an additional panel by clicking the Add Panel button at the bottom left once again.A new 250 x 150 panel will appear with the label - "panel2".

We can now drag this panel to the place on the screen that we would like and adjust the size of the panel using the blue handles along the border of the panel.

Give your panel a new name (e.g. media as in the example above) and move it to a position in the layout that you prefer.You may notice that there are two buttons labeled Up and Down in the right hand side menu. This will move the currently "selected' panel down a layer or up a layer in your design.Clicking on the Down button while the media panel is selected will move the "media' panel behind the "background' panel.It would disappear from view in this case, as it is smaller than the "background' panel.

If you are creating a layout for a much larger resolution of screen than shown in the example image above (which is 800 x 600), then you can take advantage of the Zoom In and Zoom Out option buttons at the top of the screen.If your new layout is a screen size larger than the browser window you are currently working in - then a "zoomed out' view of the overall canvas will automatically appear.You will then need to zoom in to 100% to see the actual layout to scale. The Zoom In and Zoom Out modes allow you to work with panels, but are showing scaled down or up views and are not entirely precise to the pixel.Precise pixel sizes can be entered and applied in the fields to the right.

Always zoom your design to the full view - this may require you to zoom out to 60% or less, so that you can see the entire layout design and ensure that you haven't left any blank space around the edge of your design.

Add as many more panels as you need using the technique described above and add labels to the panels that you add. Each panel can be selected and dragged or re-sized using the blue scroll handles on the border of the panel. Be sure to make sure that you are selecting the panel first before moving or changing the values in the list on the right hand side.

Once you are finished with the design you can now click on the Save button at the bottom and you will then be taken to the MyShows window with your Show design appearing in the left hand side window and your new Show will be listed on the right. To start adding content simply click on the "Edit" button to the right of the Show name you have chosen.

This will then take you to the Playlist window where you can start to add content slides to each of the panels.

Editing Free Design

When you select to edit a Free Design layout you will be asked to make a duplicate of the original show and provide a new name to the edited layout.ALL content, settings and information associated with the original show will be copied to the new show and so all your work will be preserved.

Note: when you edit a free design layout you will NOT be able to delete any of the existing panels in the layout - only add new panels to the design. This ensures that there is no orphaned content left in the system from a panel that you delete from the original show. We would advise that if you want to delete any panels that you start with a new design instead.

Kiosk Show

Display5 offers you the ability to create a Kiosk show for a situation where you would like to be able to orient the screen in a portrait rather than the default landscape mode. The process to create the show is very similar to that covered at the beginning of this guide for the static template design. Select the "Create Show for Kiosk" from the menu on the left hand side.Then you will be presented with the following screen:

Enter the show name (mandatory), the timezone, etc. and then pick a target screen size from the list. You will notice that the screens on the right are shown vertically or in portrait mode.

Then after selecting and entering this information on the following screen you can pick from the list of templates that are defined in the system

Click on Next to save your choice and you will be taken directly to the Playlist screen for the Show and you can now start adding your content slides.