2D Display/Projector

To be able to edit displays, you must activate the Stage window by clicking its title bar. Double-click a display to open its dialog box in a non-modal manner. This means you can work in other windows while having this dialog open, and you can have multiple display dialogs open at the same time.

Display Name
Specifies the name of the display.

IMPORTANT: This name is also used to identify pre-split movie files (see “Pre-splitting a Large Video”). Thus, if you use such pre-split movies, you should not change the name of the display after creating those movies, or you’ll have to rename the movies accordingly.

Computer
Specifies the name or IP number of the display computer to which this display device is connected. In most cases, using named computers is preferable (see “Addressing by IP Number or by Name”). Doing so makes your presentation more portable and independent of the network addressing method (see “Computer Addressing”).

When using the IP addressing method, the first part of their IP address is often identical, and only the last group of digits differ (as shown in the illustration under “Network”). In this case, you can enter the common part of the address in Preferences (see “Display IP Number Prefix”), and then enter only the last group of digits in the Display Specifications dialog box. For instance, if the complete address is “192.168.0.51”, you would put “192.168.0.” into the “Display IP Number Prefix” field in Preferences (note the trailing period), and then put 51 into the Address field in “Display Specifications”.

Output configuration

Specifies the output configuration for the two types of displays that correspond to physical outputs (2D Display/Projector and 3D Mapping Projector).

Device
Determines which output card should be used; Graphics Card or SDI.

NOTE: SDI output is available only on WATCHPAX 60 model C.

Resolution
If the output device is set to SDI a limited number of resolutions are available. If the output device is set to Graphics Card, there is also an option of using a custom, user-defined, resolution.

Channel
Specifies which output channel to use on the Graphics Card or SDI board. For details on SDI channel assignment rules, please see “SDI Channel Assignment”. For details regarding channel numbering on your specific hardware, please refer to its manual.

IMPORTANT: Assigning an SDI channel as an output will take precedence over input for multi-directional SDI channels.

SDI Link Type
This is only available when the selected output device is set to SDI and determines the link type for the current output channel. Four different types are available: Single-Link, Dual-Link, Quad-Link Quadrant and Quad-Link Interleaved. For details on the different link types, please see “SDI Link Type”.

Enabled
Deselect “Use this display” to temporarily disengage the display device from your presentation.

NOTE: When deselected, WATCHOUT will not complain if it can’t connect to the corresponding display computer.

Connection
Indicates the on-line status of the associated display computer. You can use the “Test Connection” button to verify the ability to connect to that particular display computer. This may be useful when trouble-shooting a system.

Color and Change
Allows you to change the color of the display’s outline in the Status window.

Display Resolution
Physical resolution used by the display computer for the signal fed to its projector or other display device. WATCHOUT allows you to specify any resolution. However, the allowable settings are ultimately deter­mined by the display device and graphics card.

Stage Position and Size
Determines the position and dimension of the display in the Stage Window. Normally, the dimension here matches the physical resolution of the display. You can override this by deselecting “Width and Height same as Display Resolution”, allowing you to enter different values. Doing so will make WATCHOUT scale the image to match the resolution.

HINT: This is particularly useful if you have to play a show made for a specific resolution on projectors that can’t handle that resolution.

Rotation
Rotates the display to an arbitrary angle. This allows you to use a vertical display format, as well as other creative display arrangements as shown in the illustration under “Alternative Display Layouts”.

NOTE: Edge blending will only work properly between displays that are on the same stage tier with the same rotation angle and stage size.

Stage Position of Display Center
This field is similar to the Left and Top fields in the “Stage Position of Display” field above, but indicates the center of the display rather than the top left corner. The center is often more relevant when the display is rotated to an arbitrary angle.

See common sections, later in this chapter, for the remaining tabs and fields in this dialog box.