Displays and Projectors

The term “display” is used throughout this manual to refer to any kind of image display device, such as projectors, monitors, LED walls, video wall cubes, etc. In WATCHOUT, displays are represented by objects added to the Stage window. In order to add or manipulate such objects, first select the Stage window by clicking its title bar.

There are three different types of displays in WATCHOUT:

2D Display/Projector. Use this type to represent all flat display devices, as well as projectors when projecting onto a flat screen or a curved screen that can be managed by the Geometry Correction feature of WATCHOUT. When used with overlapping projectors, WATCHOUT automatically applies edge blending in overlapping areas.

3D Mapping Projector. Use this type when projecting onto a complex, 3-dimensional object, represented by a 3D model in WATCHOUT. No automatic edge blending is applied, but manual masking can be used to manage overlapping areas.

Virtual Display. A two-dimensional area of the stage from which you can “grab” the resulting pixels for use as a new media item. This is useful when dealing with displays that have odd resolutions, such as LED wall modules (subsequently manager through an LED wall processor), or to create dynamic textures for mapping onto 3D models

Adding Displays

To add a display to the Stage window, choose “Add” at the top the Stage menu, selecting the desired type of display. The “2D Display/Projector” sub-menu includes most standard display sizes. The size can be altered afterwards using the display’s dialog box, accessed by double-clicking the display object in the Stage window.

NOTE: Displays can be grouped into stage tiers. When using multiple tiers, new displays are added to the current tier. Likewise, you must select the proper tier before you can manipulate its displays (see “Tier”).

Selecting Displays

Click a display to select it. Shift-click to select multiple displays. Alternatively, drag from a point outside all displays to use the selection rectangle. To de-select all displays, click outside all displays in the Stage window.

NOTE: You must activate the Stage window before you can select displays. To activate the Stage window, click its title bar. Displays can not be manipu­lated if “Online” on the Stage menu is active.

Positioning Displays

Drag a display to the desired position using the mouse. Press the Shift key while dragging to constrain the movement to horizontal or vertical only. For best precision, enter the exact position using the display’s dialog box.

Removing and Duplicating Displays

To remove a display, first select it, then choose “Cut” or “Clear” on the Edit menu. To duplicate it, first choose “Copy” then paste the duplicate back into the Stage window. When pasting a display, keep in mind that the duplicate initially occupies the exact same location in the Stage window as the original did. You must move the duplicate to another loca­tion and change its name and computer assignment before using it