PRG Mbox Studio Manual v3.7 - Manual (Page 75)

MBOX ® STUDIO USER MANUAL 67
ALIGNMENT RECTANGLES
Using Alignment Rectangles
Oftentimes there is a need for program content to conform to a particular area of the output. This is especially true
when outputting to a device that will crop the video signal or when using one server to drive multiple LED screens -
using one layer per screen. In this case, Alignment Rectangles can be used to aid in the placement of content on the
Mbox video outputs. Alignment Rectangles are drawn on the screen as the outline and can optionally display a
crosshair and circle inside the rectangle. The crosshair and circle can be useful for assistance with overlapping and to
check for proper aspect ratio.
Alignment Rectangles can be turned on and off by using the keyboard (see page 38 ) or by using the Master control
channel (see page 153 ).
There are two modes of display for alignment rectangles: Rectangle Only and Rectangle with Crosshair and Circle.
Alignment Rectangles have five settings; four are unique to each rectangle and one is global to all simple rectangles.
Every rectangle has and Origin X, Origin Y, Width, and Height setting. All rectangles also have a common lineweight
setting and a custom color. Alignment Rectangles can be created by using the Mbox Remote application. (Refer to
"Example: Setting Up Alignment Rectangles Using Remote" on page 136.)
Like many other settings for Mbox, the Alignment Rectangle settings are stored in a plist file. This file's default
location is
/Mbox/alignment/alignment.plist
It is possible to automatically crop and center content to any Alignment Rectangle. This is accomplished through the
use of the effect called "AutoCrop."
If you choose not to center the content in the Alignment Rectangle, then only the portion of the content that overlaps
the position of the Alignment Rectangle will be shown.
When using Panoramic Wide mode, both outputs together are treated as one rendering surface. Therefore, the origin
of an Alignment Rectangle that appears on the right-hand screen needs to be offset by the width of the left-hand
screen.
These features rely on additional information stored in the alignment.plist file. The Mbox Remote application is able to
create these additional properties and edit them after they have been created. The supplemental application called
"Mbox Alignment Rectangle Editor" can also help create and edit these more complex alignment rectangles.
# Name Description Mod A Mod B
212
Crop Content to
Alignment Rectangle Crops content to Alignment
Rectangle
Rectangle #, 0-255 Value > 64 = Center content
Rectangle Only Rectangle with Crosshair and Circle