Generate output to non-standard screen sizes

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1

Hello all,
I have an issue understanding the screen dimensions and the logic behind so I can better plan for it.
Here is the challenge I’m faced with:
I have different sized screens, most of them small ones: say 320x240 pixels to be powered by Xibo.
This is possible if I just set the screen elements to be small enough and placed in the upper left corner of the screen. Although I got this working, this seems to neither be scalable nor reliable. It is definitely painful to make any changes to the layout and if there are any changes to the hardware the scales seem to not work well and I don’t know enough of Xibo’s internal architecture to know what to do.

This is my understanding of the chain:

  1. Xibo Server layout size: This is the first display dimension the user can select and will determine the size of the canvas
  2. Xibo Client display size: This used to be available in versions up to 1.6. I couldn’t find it in the 1.7 user interface version, but, I assume is there somewhere. Is that the case?
  3. Player Hardware : This is the computer running Android, windows or whatever else platform available.
  4. Screen: This is the physical screen with a limited and fixed number of pixels

To make this work, I believe the steps need to be traced backwards and we start from the screen/LED panel. If we determine the resolution of the output screen to be say 320x240 what are the right settings:

  • Should I keep components 1,2 and 3 (layout all the way to the player hardware) at some standard large size (e.g. 1920x1080) and add components that are small (e.g. 320x240) so that the screen only shows a tiny corner of it?
  • Should I keep components 1 to a large resolution (e.g. 1920x1080) then add components to the layout and use the whole screen, but reduce the sizes of 2 and 3 (the client display size and player hardware settings) to something small such as 320x240 and expect Xibo player to adjust things?
  • Should I set all 1, 2 and 3 to be 320x240 from the layout size all the way to the hardware settings so there are no conversions? In this case I am not sure if all components will support such settings.

Overall I do know that there are different ways to “skin this cat”, however, they may or not be right as well as scalable and repeatable. Thus I’m hoping to get some guidance from the Xibo gurus on how to proceed in the most elegant way.
Thank you.

2

320x240 is 3:2 ratio, so I would create a 3:2 ratio resolution in Xibo.

Run your player at 320x240 positioned in the top left corner of the screen. Both the Android and Windows Players support doing that.

Then design with your custom resolution, but scale the designer up using the zoom in so the regions aren’t so small and fiddly to work with

3

Let me try to clarify some remaining questions:

How do I do I create a display based purely on ratio?
Are there any drawbacks or reasons to set the canvas to the resolution I ultimately want?

What does it mean for an Android player to run at 320x240? I looked at the UI and could not find these settings. In windows I see the Xibo Client Options. I could not find the same in Android.

Does it mean the layout canvas will be much larger and I’ll zoom into the area so I can set the areas to the dimensions I want and zoom using the “Enlarge Designer” as many times as necessary?

4

You don’t create one by ratio directly. Just enter your target dimensions
and the system will work it out for you.

Ideally you want to design at the resolution you’ll output at.

The screen dimensions for the Android player are configured from the CMS in
display settings profile assigned to that display.