Surfaces used individually and together

JoelG

Hello everyone! I'm very new to Millumin, but so far I'm impressed by Millumin's ability to quickly build out mapping. I have a question about the best way to make something happen:

I have 5 surfaces on a canvas. I would like to be able to place content in each surface but also once in a while have a single piece of content play across all the surfaces having the surfaces act almost like a mask. So far the only way I have been able to achieve this is by masking a black layer in the same places that the surfaces are. That works fine, but the show is likely going to travel to multiple venues and I would love to be able to only have to re-map the 5 original surfaces in the canvas menu rather than have to also re-map the the black layer masks and then copy and paste as well.  

Is this possible with the current build of Millumin?  

antoineM

Hello @JoelG, 

You can convert your surfaces into a mask by using the SVG. 

Here is the workflow : 

- create and adjust your surfaces 

- export the surfaces as SVG (... between the + and the - to add and remove surfaces)

- go into the mask section of your layer and import the SVG file you exported 

- add a square mask at the bottom covering all your canvas. 

- pass all the surfaces (but the square mask) in "show pixels". 

- you can then copy the masks to the other layers by using the "edit->copy masks only" menu. 

Best 

--

AntoineM*

michaelvoccola

@JoelG,

It might also be easier to set each of your individual canvases to output to Syphon and then ingest those into a single larger canvas. Then you can set your real outputs to the desired portions of the large composite. This gives you the ability to span between individual canvases and also the convenience of having each one separately.

This would loosely compare to "Super Destinations" on the E2. Do note that this will add some delay and, I believe, utilize a bit more system resources.

cacochagas

Hi Antoine.

I did as you said and at first it did not seem to be working. 

Tried to find out what happened I noticed that the masks came much larger and out of proportion.

Only when I set the scale to 0.10% I can see the masks, but out of proportion, like I said.

antoineM

Hello @cacochagas, 

This is most likely because the media you have in your layer doesn't fit your output resolution. 

Depending on what you want to do, you can still create a master mask on top of all of the other with a  black color card as a media on all collumns and import the masks from the svg inside. 

Thus you will keep the same mask size. 

Best 

-- 

AntoineM*

cacochagas

I only got it when I put the layer mapping surface to (no mapping).
Another question: Is there any way I can resize a layer without changing the size of his masks?
I'm working with 8 boards centered on a background. I want to be able to insert different videos on each board, one video going through all the boards and another video in the background. I used surface for each board and mask for the video on all boards, but as the boards together are smaller than the background I want to reduce the size of the layer so I do not cut the video too much. But when I reduce the size of the layer, the masks reduce together.

antoineM

Hello @cacochagas, 

The masks are related to the media size. So if you use different media ratio in the same layers, your mask may not be placed "correctly". However, if your medias have the same ratio, the masks position and scale will be ok. 

A solution could be to have a mask preset equivalent (in concept) to the surfaces. 

You can vote for this uservoice so we can keep track of your idea.

However, the simpliest solution is to create a black layer on top of the other layers, to create a global mask.

Best 

cacochagas

Thank you Antoine. I will try this.