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Add the output to the display layout

screen.xml tells Canvus which part of the desktop each window renders. The output to the VC system needs a place in it beside the wall, so Canvus can render into it.

There are two ways to make the change. SiteManager is the faster one: it writes screen.xml and the matching section of mt-canvus.ini in one step. You can also edit both files by hand.

With SiteManager

When SiteManager manages the wall, add the output to the VC system as an extra output beside the wall.

  1. Open the wall's page in SiteManager and select Add an extra output.
  2. Under Which screen, choose Create new. Give it a Name that users will recognise, such as Call share, and the resolution of the output, for example 1920 × 1080 or 3840 × 2160.
  3. Leave Rotation at 0°.
  4. Under Place, choose the Side where the output sits on the desktop, for example Right, and an Align.
  5. Tick Configure as Canvus video output.
  6. Select Add an extra output.
  7. Select Review and apply files. Check the preview of screen.xml and mt-canvus.ini, then select Apply the ticked files.
  8. Restart Canvus.

SiteManager widens the wall's window in screen.xml to cover the output. It keeps layer-size at the size of the wall, so the interactive canvas stays on the wall's displays. With Configure as Canvus video output ticked, it also writes the [output:Call share] section to mt-canvus.ini, so you can skip Define the video output. SiteManager edits mt-canvus.ini but never creates it, so the file must exist already.

SiteManager does not change the operating system's screen layout. Place the output in Windows or X where the layout draws it, as in Connect the hardware.

See Extra outputs beside a wall and Write the Cornerstone files in the SiteManager manual.

By hand

This example is a wall of three 1920 x 1080 displays in portrait, side by side with 10 px of bezel compensation between them, so the wall is 3260 x 1920 px. The output to the VC system is a 1920 x 1080 display placed to the right of the wall on the desktop.

<!DOCTYPE mtdoc>
<MultiHead type="">
 <layer-size type="">3260 1920</layer-size>
 <GPU_1 type="window">
  <location type="">0 0</location>
  <size type="">5180 1920</size>
  <Area1 type="area">
   <location type="">0 0</location>
   <size type="">5180 1920</size>
   <graphicslocation type="">0 0</graphicslocation>
   <graphicssize type="">5180 1920</graphicssize>
  </Area1>
  <screennumber>0</screennumber>
 </GPU_1>
</MultiHead>
  • layer-size is the interactive area: the wall only, 3260 x 1920. Keep it at the wall's size, or the canvas spreads onto the output.
  • The window and its area cover the wall and the output: 3260 + 1920 = 5180 px wide.
  • screennumber is the X screen on Ubuntu. On Windows, remove the element.

For a UHD output, use 3840 x 2160 instead of 1920 x 1080, and make the window tall enough for it.

See Video outputs for more about this layout, and the screen.xml reference for every element. Where is screen.xml gives the file's location.

Next step

Define the video output.