Presentation Preview

Owned by BrightSign TechDocs
Sept 09, 2024
2 min read

BrightAuthor version 3.8 and later contain a Preview feature, which enables you to preview a presentation on your PC as it is built.

Previewing a Presentation

To preview the current presentation:

  1. Select the Preview button displayed in the top bar of BrightAuthor at the right, next to Upload to Network.

  2. Click the arrow at the right side of this button to display a drop down list to select the preview size:

    • Half Size: The preview is displayed in a window at half the presentation resolution.

    • Full Size: The presentation is previewed in full screen mode. If the resolution of your PC monitor is less than that of the target signage display, the presentation will run off the screen.

    • Monitor 2: If you have a second monitor attached, the preview will be placed on that monitor.

  3. Exit the preview to continue using BrightAuthor (even if the preview is on a second monitor). When using full screen preview, press the Escape key to exit the preview.

Currently, only a subset of presentation features can be previewed. Visual states that are currently not supported will be shown as black in the preview window, and unsupported audio states will be silent.

Known Issues

  • Unsupported states display as black and placeholder states are added in these cases

  • Text animation in ticker zones is not yet supported

  • There is no support for BrightSign Network Functionality (including Data Feeds, Dynamic Playlists, and Live Media).

You can get a BSN data feed to work in Preview by adding it to your presentation as a simple RSS feed. To get the RSS URL of a BSN data feed, navigate to Create > Live Data in the BSN WebUI, click the Properties of the desired data feed, and copy the URL field.

Supported Features

Presentation Types

  • Landscape Presentations

Zones

  • Video or Images

  • Video Only

  • Images

  • Ticker

  • Clock (default settings only; customized Clock zones are not supported)

States

  • Video File

  • Image File

  • HTML5 (note that the preview's HTML rendering is not the same as the player's will be)

  • Live Text (excluding BSN Live Data)

  • Media RSS

  • Video List

  • Image List

  • Video Play File

  • Image Play File

  • Event Handler

Events

  • Timeout

  • Media End

  • Rectangular Touch (using mouse)

  • UDP

  • Zone Message

  • Send: Zone Message

  • Other: Set/increment/decrement/reset user variables

Local Web Server

  • Local web server emulation in place

    • Only available when preview is active

    • iPad/iPhone app can connect: user must manually add IP address for BrightAuthor PC while preview is active

    • iPad/iPhone app can display LWS web page, set user variables, and send UDP messages

Unsupported Features

Presentation Types

  • Portrait Presentations

Zones

  • Audio Only

  • Enhanced Audio

  • Background

States

  • Live Video

  • SignChannel

  • Interactive Menu

  • Audio List

  • Super State

  • Dynamic Playlist

  • Local Playlist

  • Video Stream

  • Mjpeg Stream

  • Audio Stream

  • RF In

  • Tuner Scan

Events

  • BP900/BP200

  • GPIO

  • Synchronize

  • Serial

  • Keyboard

  • USB Input

  • Remote Input

  • Link Zones

  • Video Time Code

  • Time Clock

  • GPS

  • Plugin Message

  • Sounddock

Commands

  • Set Panel Output

  • Set Audio

  • Connector Volume

  • Zone Volume

  • Send: UDP/Serial/IR Remote/Plugin Message

  • Link

  • GPIO On/Off

  • Video Pause/Resume/Enable Monitor Power

  • BrightControl

  • Other Pause/Reboot/Update Data Feed