Vertical soft edge + Canvas size = Confusion

Tryll

I'm trying to convert a mapping project from another mapping tool to Millumin. I've run this project many times in the other software, and it works really well there, but I want to add some new features that Millumin can provide.

The project uses a pair of vertically-stacked 1920x1080 projectors with a 240 pixel soft-edge overlap. This allows my "full screen" graphics and animations to be produced at 1920x1920

With this setup, I expected the canvas to be 1920x1920 and to fill the output area. When I go back to the main screen, I see this -

Which, unfortunately I don't understand. It doesn't show an overlap, it shows a grayed-out area at the bottom. When I add media that is produced at 1920x1920, it lands in the wrong area... 120px too low.

Do I need to correct for this with layer adjustments, or the creation of a 1920x1920 "surface"?

I haven't yet connected the actual projectors, I'm just trying to get past this pre-production phase to see if this project is viable with Millumin.

So what the heck is happening? Is this how it is supposed to work?

Tryll

So, what was I expecting?

I expected that the main work area would show the 1920x1920 canvas, and that layers that matched that size would naturally fill the canvas and both projectors without needing any adjustment.

Since it isn't really working that way, I figure I must be doing something wrong.

Millumin

Hello @Tryll,

Yes, this is the expected behavior.

As you noticed, Millumin is telling you that you have a soft-edge, so some pixels are "lost" and your effective resolution would 1920x1920 rather than 1920x2160.

However the soft-edge doesn't affect the size of your canvas
(so the processed resolution is still 1920x2160 in your case). Indeed, you can plan to have a certain amount of soft-edge, but this value may be evolve depending on how your
videoprojectors will be placed at the end (the soft-edge area may be slightly smaller or bigger). This way, even if you adapt a bit your soft-edge when you're setting it on stage, your content won't be affected (it will stay at the same location).

I understand you may be in the situation where the soft-edge size can be predicted, but this is not always the case.

In brief : the workspace reflects the total resolution of your canvas, and there are grayed pixels on the right (if horizontal soft-edge) or the bottom (if vertical soft-edge). It shows the "lost" pixels.

For this reason, the center is for the whole canvas, so 120px lower as you want to stick your 1920x1920 content at the top of 1920x2160. To quickly fix this : maintain SHIFT and drag your content higher to snap it to the top. Of course, unless you are sure about your final soft-edge area, you should have a bit more of content in case your soft-edge is bigger (1920x2000 for example).

I hope my explanations make sense.

Best. Philippe

PS : we plan to change the text in the Output popup so it doesn't lead to confusion.

I mean writing "1920x1920 (+ 240px for soft-edge)" instead of "1920x1920 (because of soft-edge)".