Display Builder is a utility to speed up the configuration and layout of multiple displays in Watchout and other media-server software.

Configuring arrays of overlapping displays for video wall applications by hand can be tedious and error-prone, so I created this utility to make the process faster and easier. Originally designed for the calculation of softedged projections for mapping projects, it can also be used with a negative overlap for walls of flat-screen displays or LED panels.

In the hope that the utility may be useful to others, I decided to make it available for download. The software is distributed for free; See the licence file in the zip file for details. See the enclosed readme file for installation notes.

Using Display Builder

The principle element in the application is the Display - which may be called an output or projector in other software packages.

Displays are managed using Display Groups, which contain multiple columns and rows of Displays with the same characteristics. To add Displays with different resolutions, physical sizes or orientations, add a new Display Group and configure the Displays as desired. Groups can be positioned relative to the stage, or to another group. The currently selected Display Group is highlighted on screen - click on another group to select it.

Enter the physical dimensions of a Display will calculate the physical area of the projection surface. After setting the physical scale of the first Display Group, modifying the size of Displays in subsequent groups will calculate their relative size (or stage size on Watchout). This allows the use of Displays with the same pixel resolution but different physical dimensions (e.g. 2 HD monitors with different screen sizes). Once physical dimensions are entered, a physical reference grid image can be exported.

Guides can used to aid Display layout. Background images can be imported. Guide lines can be added at precise positions and included in exported lineup images as a reference.

Project files can save your Display layouts for reuse. When loading files, you may overwrite (replace) or append (add- to) the current project.

Once completed, Display layouts data can be exported in various formats for use in different media-server software. Lineup grid images can also be generated to aid projector alignment and as a reference for content creation.

For more detailed information see the Display Builder Help docs online, also distributed with the app.