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Introduction

Canvus is an engaging and intuitive software solution for visual collaboration. It helps organizations to visualize big data, socialize ideas, educate clients and work collaboratively.

Canvus supports connected operations, enabling geographically dispersed Canvus users to collaborate on shared canvases. For example, teams in separate offices can simultaneously work on the same canvas, with each team able to see updates made by other teams in real time.

With Canvus, multiple users can work on a video wall at the same time, using their hands, fingers and pens to interact with screen content. Canvus also allows users to share content from their personal devices onto the video wall and, conversely, to share content from the video wall onto external monitors, projectors, or other outputs.

Canvus Client and Canvus Connect server

Canvus consists of two separate software components: client and server. From Canvus 26.4.0 the server (mt-canvus-server) is released as a separate product with its own installer and documentation — see the MT Canvus Server manual. Canvus client continues to ship as the mt-canvus desktop application.

  • Canvus client is a desktop application for Windows and Linux. You can use Canvus client on your personal computer, such as desktop or laptop, or it can run on a large format display or a video wall.
  • Canvus Connect server: is a server application that stores your shared canvases and enables remote collaboration. The server is installed and administered by IT administrators.

What's new in 26.4.0

  • Client 26.4.0. This manual covers the 26.4.0 release of Canvus client.
  • Server now ships separately. mt-canvus-server has been split out of the client package and has its own release cadence and documentation.
  • New installer filename scheme. Installers now follow mt-<name>-client-<version>.exe (Windows) and mt-<name>-client-<version>.deb (Linux). Scripts that download installers by URL should be updated accordingly.
  • Installer cleans up the previous version first. The installer now uninstalls the previous version before installing the new one, so upgrades no longer leave two copies side by side. Third-party components such as the Magewell MW Capture Runtime are only uninstalled when you explicitly click Install, not when the installer is launched.
  • Windows code signing has moved to Azure Trusted Signing. The installer and binaries remain signed; the signature is issued by the new Azure Trusted Signing service rather than MultiTaction's previous certificate. The publisher name shown in the Windows UAC prompt and in executable properties may look different; security posture is unchanged.
  • In-app Settings page. The new Settings page gives administrators and users a graphical, grouped view of the settings that previously had to be edited in mt-canvus.ini. See Settings page.
  • New in-app configuration controls. Browser, email, video, PDF and other sections can now be configured without a text editor. See Settings page and the full Configuration file reference.
  • Linux canvus:// URI handler. On Linux, installing the client now registers the canvus:// URI scheme with the desktop environment, so clicking a canvas link in a browser or mail client opens Canvus directly (as it has always done on Windows).
  • Refreshed built-in plugins. The client ships with a refreshed set of bundled plugins: Anchor Pages, Canvas Macros, Connector Follow, Lock Widget, Looping Video, and Spatial Intelligence.

Single user or multi-user mode?

Canvus client can run in single user mode or multi-user mode.

  • Single user mode is aimed at running Canvus client on a personal computer for a single user, such as on your laptop or desktop machine. In this mode:
    • Canvus user interface is optimized for a single user. Only one canvas item can be active at a time.
    • All local and network disk drives are listed in Canvus with USB disks.
    • Virtual keyboard is shown if running in Windows 10 Tablet mode.
    • There can only be a single virtual keyboard on screen at once.
  • Multi-user mode is aimed at running Canvus client on an interactive large format display or a video wall. In his mode:
    • Canvus user interface supports multiple simultaneous users on the same device. Multiple canvas items can be active at once based on their distance on screen.
    • QR code authentication is preferred.
    • Only USB disks are listed in the main menu.
    • Multiple virtual keyboards can appear on screen at once based on their distance on screen.

By default, Canvus client will use single user mode unless the touch configuration file (config.txt) uses MultiTaction displays or the display configuration file (screen.xml) specifies multiple windows.

Tip

If you want to change or force the mode Canvus client operates in, see client-mode-settings in the client configuration.