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Videos and 360 video

MultiTaction Canvus plays video files on the canvas. Playback is shared: when someone plays, pauses or moves the position of a video, everyone working on the canvas sees the same.

This page covers video files. For live sources, see Video inputs, Video streams and Remote touch. For the codecs and file types Canvus plays, see video files in Media formats and limits.

Add a video

Drag a video file onto the canvas from your desktop, from the Files item in the finger menu, or from a USB drive in the main menu.

Before you play it, the video shows its opening frame. (From Canvus 26.09.4.)

Play a video

Tap the video to activate it. The controls appear at the bottom of the video:

  • Play / pause
  • Loop, between play and mute. When loop is on, the video starts again from the beginning when it ends.
  • Mute / unmute
  • A scrub bar to move to another position

With a mouse, the controls appear when you point at the video.

To start and stop playback with a single tap anywhere on the video, set tap-to-play in mt-canvus.ini:

[video]
; If true, a single tap on a video starts or pauses playback.
; DEFAULT: false
; tap-to-play=false

During a presentation, a single tap on a video always starts or pauses it, whatever this setting says.

What is shared with other people

Setting Shared
Playing or paused, and the playback position Yes
Loop on or off Yes, from Canvus 26.10.0 with a 26.10.0 or later server
Muted or not Yes, from Canvus 26.10.0

The loop button appears only on video files, not on live inputs, streams or remote desktops, and only when the server is 26.10.0 or later. It replaces the Looping Video plugin, which Canvus no longer loads. See also Looping video.

360 video

From Canvus 26.10.0, Canvus shows 360 degree panoramic video (equirectangular projection). You look around inside the video instead of seeing the whole flat frame.

Import a 360 video

Name the file with .360 just before the extension, for example tour.360.mp4. Canvus imports it as a 360 video.

To switch any video between flat and 360 later:

  1. Tap the video to activate it.
  2. In the sidebar, tap more.
  3. Tap Show as a 360 video, or Show as a flat video to go back.

Look around

  1. Pin the video. See Pinning content.
  2. Drag with one finger to turn the view.
  3. Pinch with two fingers to zoom.

To return to the starting view, tap Recentre the 360 view in the sidebar.

The view direction and zoom are saved with the video and shared with everyone on the canvas, so video outputs and snapshots show the same view. When a 360 video ends or is stopped, it keeps its 360 view. (From Canvus 26.10.4.)

Server and client versions

360 video needs a Canvus Server 26.10.0 or later. On an older server the flat/360 switch is hidden, .360 files play flat, and the view you choose is not shared. Before Canvus 26.10.4, dragging a pinned 360 video did not turn the view. Update to 26.10.4 or later.

This feature replaces the 360-vid-widget plugin, which Canvus no longer loads.