Laqorr gives you the capacity to create your own screen layout utilising different parts of the screen as well as web feeds, tickers and RSS feeds. Navigate to CONTENT / SCREEN LAYOUT TEMPLATES which shows your library of existing templates that you can edit, or create a new one.
SCREEN DIMENSIONS
First, click NEW in the top right corner and you’ll see an empty template.
Give the template a name, and you can change the sequence number. This affects the order in which templates appear in the library.
Next, enter the pixel dimensions of the desktop of the player that will use the template. It must match, or be larger than, the resolution of the screen that it is attached to. This is your total canvas size.
3840×2160 is standard UHD landscape (2160×3840 for portrait). However your screen may be entirely different – LED screens are often unique to the space they’ve been built for – 1000×960 for instance. With LEDs it is important that the input resolution of the device that manages these types of screens matches the output resolution of the player. Check with your installer if you’re not sure.
LAYOUT ELEMENTS
Now we choose the elements of the template.
In this example we will have one half of the screen showing videos and images from a playlist. The other half will show web content. Along the bottom we will run a ticker.
First, click on ADD NEW FEED.
Click the Type box and choose between the following options:
- Web (a website)
- Ticker (a ticker or RSS feed)
- Video (or images from a playlist)
- Clock (for adding time to the screen)
For our example we’ll use Video (this is the most common, and applies to both videos and images supplied by a playlist). Fill in the Title box with a name that you can use as a reference for yourself.
Now choose where you want the top, left corner of the video panel to sit; xx many pixels from the left, xx many pixels from the top of the screen. In our case, the Left Video will be pinned to the top left corner: therefore 0 0.
PANEL SIZE
Next choose how wide and how tall the panel should be. We want it to be half the width of the screen (960 pixels) and most of the height. We’ll need to leave some room for the ticker, so let’s make it 1020 pixels.
Now add the second panel for a website feed. Click ADD NEW FEED, under Type choose Web, enter 960 for Left (so it begins next to the previous panel), Top is 0, Width is 960 and Height is 1020. Click UPDATE.
TICKER
Finally, we’ll add the Ticker. Click ADD NEW FEED, choose Ticker, Left=0, Top=1020, Width=1080, Height=60. This will create a full-width ticker space 60 pixels in height, starting 1020 pixels from the top of the screen. Notice how the layout panel above the Feeds box lays these elements together to show you how they’ll appear on screen. Once happy, click APPLY in the top right corner.
The new template will now appear in your Template Library, and is available to add to a Group.
LAYERS
The Z-index allows you to bring elements forward so you can layer parts of the screen in front of other content. For instance, a ticker could sit on top of full screen video. This is useful if you don’t want to resize content to fit a specific space, however it does mean some of the content will be covered (in this case, by the ticker).
Z-Index 0 is the back layer, 1 sits in front of it, 2 in front of that, and so on. It’s important to define the Z-Index when layers overlap.
CLOCK
You could also add a clock to your screen. The Clock feed can sit anywhere on the screen, or in front of other layers. It can also be personalised in terms of font, colour and style.
Add a Clock feed as you would any other (Left/Top/Width/Height/Z-Index). Further amendments are made in the Group to which this Template has been assigned.
FURTHER ADJUSTMENTS
- HOW TO USE SCREEN LAYOUTS
- HOW TO ADD PLAYLISTS IN A GROUP
- HOW TO ADD A WEBSITE URL IN A GROUP
- HOW TO USE A TICKER
- HOW TO PERSONALISE A CLOCK
NOTE:
Although Laqorr will resize content to fit a screen layout, you may experience black bars if content does not match the aspect ratio of the window it has been assigned to. In our example, conventional video (1920×1080) will shrink to fill the video panel horizontally, but have black bars top and bottom. Similarly, if a web page is not designed for a 960×1020 window, it will be resized to the best possible fit.
When using Samsung’s onboard Tizen player, all content is stretched to fit the available space. Files will be distorted if they’re not the aspect ratio. In all cases, it is important to design content fit for purpose.
