URL-based Images in v.5.5

[jayhubs]

Hello,

 

I just finished installing version 5.5 and everything looks awesome.  I'm especially interested in the new URL Image Proxy feature.  I'd love to have a URL-based image in my show, but am having trouble figuring out how exactly to network a live internet connection within my local connection to my display computers.  Is there a specific way that you would recommend?

 

Thanks,

 

Jeremy

[Mike Fahl]

To use this to grab images fmor the Internet, you will need to have internet access from your display cluster. Using a regular NAT router should provide adequate protection while still allowing you to access the internet. 

 

An alternative, depending on what images you want to bring in, is to use an in-house web server just for serving images to WATCHOUT. In this case, you only need access to this local web server, not to the Internet. This also gives you better control over the availability of the images, which you may not have to the same extent if you rely on an server you don't control.

 

Mike

[Lloyd Stewart]

Are the images then saved on our computers?  I'm kinda confused on the concept.  Why wouldn't we just save the images and then insert them into our shows as usual? 

 

I know I'm missing something, or misunderstanding something.............as usual.. 

[Mike Fahl]

No, the image is loaded afresh from the URL each time it is displayed. That's the whole point. It could, for instance, be a weather map updated several times per hour.

 

Mike

[Martin Pfeifer]

A useful description of how to use URL-based images I only found in the posting of Jonas 

http://forum.dataton.com/topic/1126-dataton-software-earlier-versions-archive/

and there in the link

https://www.dataton.com/files/watchout/support/Release-Notes-55.html

That's a pity it is NOT described as such in the WO6.1 users guide

 

Martin

[Jonas Dannert]

As the above link is no longer active, here's the text from WATCHOUT v5.5 release notes:

 

URL-based Images

In addition to loading images from a file on disk, or from the Dynamic Image Server added in WATCHOUT version 5,

you may now also load an image from a URL. This is similar to loading images through the Dynamic Image Server in

that the image will be loaded afresh each time it's displayed, allowing images to be easily updated.

The URL you specify may refer to an actual website on the Internet (e.g., a weather map), or may point to an in-house

web server used only for serving images to WATCHOUT.

 

To use this feature, first determine the URL of the image to be used.

This can be done using a web browser by right-clicking the image and choosing "Copy Image Location", or similar command.

This gives you the image URL. 

 

Open a new browser window and paste in the URL (which typically ends in .jpg or .png) to make sure you get just the image.

Determine the dimensions of the image, in pixels, by dragging the image onto your hard drive and opening it using an image editor.

 

In WATCHOUT, choose "Add Image Proxy" on the Media menu, paste in the URL of the image, and enter its dimensions.

If the image contains transparency, select the type under "Transparency". Click OK, then use the image as usual in WATCHOUT.

 

Each display computer will load the image from the URL every time it's displayed. 

 

/jonas