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Creating a control panel - PRODUCTION

Pixotope allows you to create custom remote-control panels, which run:

  • in a web browser on your Pixotope network

You can control:

  • all properties and functions of Pixotope Engine objects

  • all aspects of Pixotope Director which are controlled via the Pixotope API

Learn more about available widget types

Want to give feedback?

This is another step on the journey where we would welcome your input and thoughts. If you are interested in sharing your use cases do not hesitate to give feedback.

Control Panel

  • In this tutorial we explore the Pixotope control panel. We look at how to create it, an overview of the control panel editor UI and how to set up widgets to control your scene.

Create a control panel

  1. Go to PRODUCTION > Show > Launch

  2. Click "Create new control panel"

  3. Give it a descriptive name

    • Choose the project, if there are more than one linked project available

  4. The control panel is opened in your default browser

Learn more about the Control Panel - Interface and its Keyboard shortcuts

Learn more about where control panels are stored

Open a control panel

  1. Go to PRODUCTION > Show > Launch

  2. Hover over the control panel you want to open and click "Launch panel (Editor)"

  3. The control panel is opened in your default browser

Want to open a control panel from the Control panel library?

Open a control panel via URL

How to open a control panel via a URL

Open control panels directly using their file name in the URL, making it easy to share direct links:

http://[localhost OR IPaddress]:16211/#[edit_file|view_file]=[Control Panel name]

For example

If multiple control panels share the same name across different projects, the first matching file will open.

Open a control panel via Gateway (machine-independent URL)

How to open a control panel via Gateway

Standard control panel URLs target a specific machine's IP address, which can be problematic if that machine goes offline or the IP changes. To access a control panel without hardcoding a specific machine IP, you can route the request through Pixotope Gateway.

Replace the machine IP and port ([IP]:16211) in your control panel URL with the Gateway address and the alive-control-panel-ip endpoint:

Standard URL:

http://192.168.0.165:16211/#live-35c5d4867f29e562

URL via Gateway:

http://[A machine running gateway]:16208/alive-control-panel-ip/#live-35c5d4867f29e562

The Gateway will automatically route the request to any available machine that can serve the control panel, making your URLs more resilient in multi-machine setups.

The Gateway IP in the URL still needs to be a reachable address on your network. If accessing from the same machine running Gateway, you can use localhost.

Migrating old control panel files

In case you are opening an old control panel file you can

  • Migrate the file

    • This overwrites the old file which can not be undone!

  • Create a copy

    • This keeps the original and creates a copy

Screenshot 2024-10-10 at 15.28.21.png

Duplicate, Rename, Delete a panel

Use the overflow menu to duplicate, rename or delete a control panel.

Screenshot 2022-09-06 at 11.27.08.png

Every control panel is stored in its own folder together with potential image assets.

Find the property to control

Learn more about how to Find the property to control

Learn more about how to Add widgets and actions

Edit and layout widgets

Learn more about how to Edit and layout widgets

Go live

Select Read from - Send to engines

By default Read from is the first engine in the list and Send to are All machines (running engines).

  1. Click the read from send to header

    Screenshot 2024-11-25 at 14.38.13.png

  2. Select the Engine group to send to

    Screenshot 2024-11-25 at 14.37.56.png


  3. Optionally select Remember selection when saving. This way your selection is remembered the next time the Control panel is opened

Learn more about the Read from - Send to header

Save a control panel

  1. Click on the save icon in the tab header
    OR open the Menu and select "Save"
    OR press Ctrl+S

Screenshot 2024-09-30 at 10.36.27.png
Screenshot 2024-09-30 at 10.36.40.png

To avoid losing data

  • we store the 10 last saved versions in a Version history, which is accessible via the history icon in the header

  • we warn you before you close or reload the tab

  • we try to recover the last unsaved version in case Director, which serves the page, crashes

Preview Live mode

  1. Press R or the "View" button in the tab header on the top right

    • The yellow border is removed

    • You cannot add or move widgets

Screenshot 2024-09-30 at 10.41.10.png

Exit Preview Live mode

  1. Press R or the "Edit" button in the tab header on the top right

Screenshot 2024-09-30 at 10.41.31.png

Live mode

This mode removes any ability to edit the control panel including switching between Edit and Preview Live mode

  1. Go to PRODUCTION > Show > Launch

  2. Click on "Launch panel"

    • OR use the QR code

Screenshot 2023-10-03 at 11.46.27.png