Add a virtual monitor or other video feeds

Pixotope supports adding multiple additional video feeds as textures in your scene. You can for example, create virtual TV walls, monitors, or screens. Sources can be live media inputs routed through Director, or local files (images and video) played back directly from disk.

Using Media Inputs

Learn how to use Media inputs to set up virtual monitors and other video feeds for your scene

Setup in Director

To access Media inputs inside the Editor, they must be configured in Director:

Route a Media input in SETUP > Configure > Routing

Learn more about Setting up a show

Preview in Editor

When correctly configured, the Media inputs can be previewed using the "Utilities" panel.

Add a Media Input actor

Add a Media Input Actor

Learn more about how to Place Actors

Choose source type

Select the “MediaInputActor” in the Outliner
1. Choose the Source Type in the Details panel (Media section)
- Live input
- Video Or Image File
- Debug Texture

Route texture

Live input

Choose how to select the media input
- By name - uses the Media input name
- By number - zero based index
  - Routed Media inputs are ordered alphabetically
- Tracked Camera - uses the feed of the tracked camera
Select the Input name/Input number
Optionally change additional options

Video Or Image File

Browse for a file or enter a full path into Media File
- Videos - MP4, MOV, MKV
- Images - PNG, JPG, BMP, EXR
Click the "OpenMedia" button
- The video starts playing unless Play on Open is disabled
- The video starts again when it reaches the end, unless Loop is disabled
Use the "Play" and "Pause" buttons to check the video

Enter the full path to the file. Path aliases like %SYNCED_STORAGE% are not supported here.

To play, pause, seek or load a different file while the show is running, use the functions inside a blueprint or the Control panel. See Use in blueprints or Control Panel below.

Debug Texture

Select a texture that is an asset in your project from the Content Drawer

Adjust the appearance

The remaining sections of the Details panel control how the picture looks in your scene.

Display

Master Static Mesh - the shape the picture is shown on. A flat plane by default.
Fit To Source Aspect Ratio - stretches the shape so the picture is not squashed. Use this instead of resizing the shape by hand every time the source changes.
Base Scale - the size of the shape before the picture's proportions are applied
Show In Ray Traced Reflections - shows the picture in ray traced reflections. Enabled by default.
Cast Shadow - lets the picture cast a shadow. Enabled by default.
Material Type - how the picture is blended into the scene
- Translucent - see-through
- Masked - cut-out
- Opaque - solid
Translucency - how solid the picture is, from 0 to 1. Only used with the Translucent material type.
Gamma shift in Video Mode – in Video mode the picture is affected by the Unreal Engine filmic tonemapper (unless moved past post-processing). Enabling this option compensates for this so that the resulting output is in the correct gamma space. Enabled by default.

Quality

Use Mip Maps - gives a blurrier but less "grainy" result at long distances. Enabled by default.
Use Nearest Sampling - keeps the pixels sharp instead of blending them. Useful for pixel art and test patterns. Disabled by default.
Use Unjittered Projection - holds the picture steady and gives a much sharper result. It only works correctly on flat or almost flat surfaces, and it does not work with TSR or DLSS. Disabled by default.

And in World settings:

Move Media Inputs Past Tonemapping will make media inputs unaffected by post-processing and tonemapping. This requires them to have Use Unjittered Projection enabled.

Show a picture on your own mesh

To use a shape of your own instead of the actor's plane:

Add a Media Input component to your actor
Choose the source type and route the texture as described above
In the "Target Mesh" section, expand "Advanced" if your actor has more than one mesh
- Mesh Tag - which mesh to show the picture on. Leave empty to use the first one found.
- Material Index - which material slot on that mesh to replace
Click "Add Reflected Mesh" or "Add Caster Mesh" to let the picture appear in ray traced reflections or cast a shadow
- The Media Input actor already does this for you. You only need these buttons on your own actor.

To drive your own material instead, use Get Texture in a blueprint.

Use in Control Panel

All the settings listed above can be read and set from a Control Panel.

The Media Input actor's functions can also be assigned to a Control panel widget. Available functions:

Open Media - reloads the current file from disk
Open Media File - shows a different file, given its full path
Play - resumes a paused video
Pause - pauses the video on the current frame
Seek - jumps to a position in the video, in seconds from the start

The Seek function only works in PIE/Live, not in WYSIWYG

A common use is letting an operator choose a file during a show. Take the path from a text field in your Control panel and pass it to the Media File property.

Enable the File/Path Browser property in a Text Input widget to get direct access to the Windows file browser and select the file. This will return the path to the file and send it to the Media File property in the scene.

Learn more about how to Add widgets and actions.

Use in Blueprints

All the properties and functions listed above are also available from a custom blueprint:

Reading the picture in a blueprint

Get Texture and Get Resolution belong to the media source. Call Get Media Source on the actor first, then call them on the result.

Get Texture - the picture being shown right now
Get Resolution - the size of the picture, in pixels

Reacting to a new picture

There is no blueprint event for when the picture changes. Enable Fit To Source Aspect Ratio on the actor to have the plane resize automatically.