How to get started with SpinetiX Fusion This short guide shows how to get started quickly, with SpinetiX Fusion. Follow the 5 steps and you‟ll become an expert in less than an hour. Note: In this guide we illustrate how easy it is to manage a corporate display using Fusion. To help the reader understanding Fusion mechanisms we use a hypothetical corporate application scenario: manage a 16:9 display in the corporate cafeteria to communicate with visitors and colleagues. Introduction Fusion gives you a powerful but simple interface for any digital signage application scenario where a single display can be managed by the end user. In particular Fusion offers 5 key features: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Simple mechanisms to upload and manage multimedia files to your HMP device and an ergonomic interface to compose the desired sequence of these media elements to be displayed on the screen; Intuitive scheduling mechanism based on validity criteria to set when each media can be displayed. Support of user editable fields to customize application specific templates as simply as possible. Support of global layout elements that reinforce corporate identity and style through the selection of a skin. Support of user rights management These features embedded in the SpinetiX Hyper Media Player makes Fusion a unique product in the digital signage Industry. In this manual, we will first illustrate how to setup your environment and then we will explain and illustrate each of the key features summarized above. Prepare your content 1. First, use any of your preferred software tools to prepare your content (images, video clips, animations…). In our example application we have edited product pictures of the HMP with “Adobe Photoshop” to add nice effects, shadows or reflections. We have also selected a video clip that introduces our company. You are free to use your own images, or ask your creative staff to produce any content. HINT: In our example we have a display with 16:9 aspect ratio: it is important that you take this information into account when creating your media elements. Displaying media with different aspect ratio will cause deformations of the media or black bands in the display. SpinetiX SA, Rue des Terreaux 17, CH-1003 Lausanne, Switzerland T +41 21 341 15 50 | F +41 21 311 19 56 | [email protected] | www.spinetix.com Prepare your installation 1. First install your display and the HMP of your choice (HMP100 or HMP200). This is very simple: just connect the HMP to the display (with an HDMI or VGA cable), to the local network (with an RJ45 cable) and finally to the power supply. 2. Second, activate Fusion. For this you can use any browser on your laptop or even on your iPad. Simply open the following URL address: http://spx-hmp-<serial number>.local where <serial number> is reported on the back of every HMP unit. This address will open the „HMP Control Center‟ as illustrated in the picture below. Use the „Fusion‟ tab from the Administration menu and confirm the activation of Fusion by pressing the „Activate Fusion‟ button as illustrated below. HINT: You can also reach the HMP using its IP address. When you press the blue button on the HMP, its IP address is displayed on the screen. Simply type the IP address on your browser and you will reach the „HMP Control Center‟ of the unit. 3. Third, access the Fusion interface. Once activated on your HMP, you can access Fusion interface at any time by following the „Go to Fusion‟ link with your browser or by typing the following URL address: http://spx-hmp-<serial number>.local/fusion. SpinetiX SA, Rue des Terreaux 17, CH-1003 Lausanne, Switzerland T +41 21 341 15 50 | F +41 21 311 19 56 | [email protected] | www.spinetix.com 1. Publish a simple program Now that we have access to Fusion we can start publishing the content we have prepared in few clicks. 1.1. Upload your content First you need to upload all your media files into your HMP unit. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Login to SpinetiX Fusion (the default credentials are: admin, admin) To upload your content, open the „Media‟ menu on the top of the screen Click the „Add‟ button, and select your media file from your computer, then confirm the upload After the content is uploaded, it will appear in the corresponding tab („Images‟, „Videos‟, etc.) Repeat steps 2-3 as many times as necessary until all the media you want is loaded HINT: you can 7zip multiple media files together and upload them all at once. (www.7-zip.org) 1.2. Publish your content To publish your content on the display, you need to create a „Program‟ which is a sequential list of media. In our application example, a typical program could be the sequence of images and video clips describing the products of the company, the employee of the month, the new services of the company etc… It is very easy to create a „Program‟ with Fusion: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Click on the „Programs‟ menu and then on the „New‟ button. To import the media of your choice into the new program, simply Drag & Drop them from any of the tabs on the right window to the „New Program‟ window on the left. You can import images, videos, and much more! Hint: On some browsers, the drag and drop operation might not be possible or easy. You can always use the left-arrow to add a specific media into your Program. Any new media added is automatically placed at the end of the Program. You can change this order at any time using the up or down icons or the drag and drop functionality within the program. New media added to your Program has a default duration, you can manually set the default duration or individually change the duration of a specific media item if you prefer. To complete your first program, click „Save‟. SpinetiX SA, Rue des Terreaux 17, CH-1003 Lausanne, Switzerland T +41 21 341 15 50 | F +41 21 311 19 56 | [email protected] | www.spinetix.com 6. Enter a name for your Program in the „New Program‟ pop-up and hit „Save‟. Your program has been created. 7. 8. To activate a program simply click the activate-arrows . In few moments your program will be displayed full screen. The active Program will repeat itself until changed. You can create multiple Programs. For example you can create the program for next week or the evacuation instructions to be displayed only on emergency situations. Congratulations, you’re done with publishing a simple program! SpinetiX SA, Rue des Terreaux 17, CH-1003 Lausanne, Switzerland T +41 21 341 15 50 | F +41 21 311 19 56 | [email protected] | www.spinetix.com 2. Creating ‘Slides’ from Templates Media such as images and video are static content: once created they will always look the same on the display. In modern digital signage, the user needs to easily customize the content on the fly, by changing text, images or videos. Imagine you wish to announce the visit of an important customer to your company. Imagine you wish to display the picture of the visitor and a welcome message. Instead of editing the specific content with Photoshop, you probably prefer your assistant to have a dedicated template where everything is defined (background, font styles, etc.) and the assistant only needs to fill the text field and change the picture. Fusion offers you this feature! A template in Fusion defines in the scene the fields that will be customized on-the-fly by the user. These fields can be text, media and even parameters. From a given template, Fusion will automatically create a customized „slide‟ with the correct information input by the user. Once created, the slide will be available to any „Program‟ exactly like any media that has been uploaded to the HMP. SpinetiX offers a number of generic templates, often organized in style packs (skins and templates) for specific applications. Check our web site (www.spinetix.com/resources/fusion) for the existing style packs that are available. Then follow the steps below: 2.1. Upload your style pack 1. Learn how to upload your style pack here. 2.2. Create a slide from a template 1. To create a slide, open the „Slides‟ menu and click on the „New‟ button: a list of available templates will be displayed. 2. Choose one by clicking on the „New‟ icon: category has different features. 3. Note that different templates offer different editable fields to the user. Some fields allow the user to type text, others to drag and drop images or videos. Usually each editable field is described by a short comment and the user can preview the result. 4. Hit „Save‟, enter a slide name and hit „Save‟ again. Your slide has been created based on the Template of your choice. . The slide templates are organized in to several categories on the player, each SpinetiX SA, Rue des Terreaux 17, CH-1003 Lausanne, Switzerland T +41 21 341 15 50 | F +41 21 311 19 56 | [email protected] | www.spinetix.com 2.3. Add your slide to a program 1. 2. 3. Go to the „Programs‟ menu and edit the current program by clicking on the „Edit‟ icon On the right side, open the „Slides‟ tab and drag & drop your Slide to the media list on the left . Hit „Save‟ Congratulations, you just have created a slide based on a template, which you have now added to the current program! SpinetiX SA, Rue des Terreaux 17, CH-1003 Lausanne, Switzerland T +41 21 341 15 50 | F +41 21 311 19 56 | [email protected] | www.spinetix.com 3. Content scheduling Although the user can manually activate different programs at any time, in many applications you wish the system to be more automatic. In particular, you may want to display a „Visitor of the day‟-slide of the Program only on a specific day; Or a specific „Special Offer‟-slide only on particular weekdays between two dates. To simplify this task, Fusion includes a scheduling mechanism: any media, slide or playlist in your Program can be quickly given a schedule condition including: - A validity day interval defined by two dates (start and end), - A validity day of the week option (you can select which date of the week the media is valid), - A validity time defined by two „hours:minutes‟ information (start and end). To schedule any media items in your program follow the simple steps below: 1. 2. Click on the „Programs‟ menu and then on the „Edit‟ icon of your Program Now click on the „Scheduling‟ button at the top of the window. 3. Choose which slide or media you want to schedule and select the two dates you want to start and finish the schedule, then the hours and days of the week you wish to display the media 4. Hit „Save‟ and your scheduling options will be accepted once the current program has finished playing NOTE: There is a difference between setting the validity of a media or setting when a media will be played. With the Fusion interface you can set the validity of each media in your program. Fusion will start playing the first valid media and then will display the following valid one in the active Program. It is not possible to define the exact time when a media will be played as this depends on the media in the Program and their validity. Congratulations, you’re done with scheduling your content! SpinetiX SA, Rue des Terreaux 17, CH-1003 Lausanne, Switzerland T +41 21 341 15 50 | F +41 21 311 19 56 | [email protected] | www.spinetix.com 4. Changing the overall look and feel with ‘Skins’ Display a sequence of media in full screen requires that each media share a similar style or there is the risk of losing the corporate identity. Unfortunately, creating consistent media is an expensive task that requires creative professionals. To simplify this need, Fusion introduces the possibility for the user to apply a master graphical layout that we call „Skin‟. A skin may define the default background as well as the default font and color to be used all time behind or on top of the current Program. Skins can also be used to introduce permanent elements on the page, such as a clock & date, news tickers etc. These elements give continuity and identity to the layout of the display even if the media defined by the current Program are different from each other. A skin may offer the user a range of editable fields, for example the user can personalize the logo or the source of the RSS feeds. It is very simple to activate a skin within Fusion and edit its customizable fields: the final result will increase the professionalism of the display. Follow the steps below: 4.1. Upload your style pack 1. Learn how to upload your style pack here. 4.2. Choose, configure and activate a skin 1. 2. 3. In the „Skins‟ tab you will find a list of available skins. Choose one by clicking on the „Activate‟ icon: Skin for you to customize. Configure the Skin by editing the settings on the left side of the window Hit „Save‟ to apply the skin with its modifications this will open the Congratulations, you just have changed the overall display of the screen without modifying the current program! SpinetiX SA, Rue des Terreaux 17, CH-1003 Lausanne, Switzerland T +41 21 341 15 50 | F +41 21 311 19 56 | [email protected] | www.spinetix.com 5. User Access Creating Programs, scheduling media, generating slides from existing templates, selecting different skins or adding new templates and skins are tasks that may require different responsibilities within the organization. For example in our application, we do not wish that our assistant change the corporate skin by mistake. To limit the functionalities that the user can access, Fusion provides a rights management mechanism. The administrator can create users with just the rights they need as described below: Note: The ‘admin’ user is a system defined user and cannot be deleted. For security reasons you should always change the default password to avoid unauthorized access (click on ‘Settings’ menu and ‘My Setting’ tab). 5.1. Create a new user 1. 2. Click on the „Settings‟ menu and then on the „Users‟ tab Enter a username, password and the access right: 3. Click on the „Add‟ button and you have created a new user 5.2. Access rights 1. 2. 3. 4. Scheduler Rights: Users with Scheduler rights can only activate existing Programs Editor Rights: Users with Editor rights can activate existing Programs and modify existing Slides. Creator Rights: Users with Creator rights can create, delete and modify Programs, Slides and Playlists. They can also upload new media, and change the active Skin. Administrator Rights: Users with Administrator rights can perform all Creator tasks. In addition they can upload new style packs. They can also create and delete user settings. SpinetiX SA, Rue des Terreaux 17, CH-1003 Lausanne, Switzerland T +41 21 341 15 50 | F +41 21 311 19 56 | [email protected] | www.spinetix.com Annex: Upload your style pack A style pack contains skins and templates for Fusion. They are available from the SpinetiX website (www.spinetix.com/resources/fusion) and supplied as well by SpinetiX 3rd party partners. 1. 2. To upload a style pack, open the „Settings‟ menu and then the „Skins‟ tab. Click on the „Add‟ button, choose your style pack (SpinetiX_Stylepack_xx.7z) and confirm the upload. SpinetiX SA, Rue des Terreaux 17, CH-1003 Lausanne, Switzerland T +41 21 341 15 50 | F +41 21 311 19 56 | [email protected] | www.spinetix.com