A database is used to store all links to content and applications which can be launched from Igloo Home. A single database record corresponds to a single item of content, e.g. movie or panorama.
Searching
The Content node in the Properties tree view contains a search box and a list of quick searches of scene templates, records by content type, records by associated tag name and by scene/layout:
The number of records in the database for each quick search is shown in brackets after the search name, e.g. the screenshot above indicates that there are 60 records with content type ‘panorama’ in the database. The free-text search box can be used to search by record id or by using a part of the record name, e.g. searching with ‘1' will return the record with id=1 and searching with ‘ford’ will return all records with ‘ford’ in the name. Pressing the column heading buttons will sort the records by that column. The button acts like a toggle to sort by ascending or descending order, i.e. press the ID button to sort by the record id in ascending order and press it again to sort in descending order.
Editing
A database record can be edited by selecting it in the Content records section (click in the tick box next to the record id). This causes the Content management section to be populated with the selected record’s data.
The Content management section has four subsections arranged in a 2 x 2 grid: Metadata, Files, Thumbnail and Tags.
Metadata section
Save - update the database with the record’s data.
New - create a new database record. This is useful for creating a new content link manually.
Test - launch the content as it would be when in ‘run’ mode. This is useful for testing the content links without needing to leave ‘edit’ mode. It can also help with creating a thumbnail image (see below).
Delete - delete the current record from the database.
The metadata fields are described below:
name | name of the content record, this is used for the label text in the ContentGrid component. |
type | this is the content type and is one of: movie, panorama, website, external, capture, bookmark, command, multiple, scene. |
description | free text description of the content. |
sender name | Spout sender name used by the content, e.g. UnityCam. |
command line arguments | this field is used by the external content type. It specifies any command line arguments to be used in conjunction with the file name field (which holds the executable) to launch the content. Example for Revizto command line arguments are: -iglooCameraType -force-d3d11 |
helper command | a subsequent command line to follow the main executable. This is typically used for simulating the Enter key being pressed on the keyboard so that the application can start. |
origin | free text string to represent where the content record originated from e.g. igloo_demo. |
width | to specify the width of the Igloo Web canvas for the website URL given in the content record. |
height | to specify the height of the Igloo Web canvas for the website URL given in the content record. |
hidden | if ticked, the content record will not appear in any ContentGrids. Useful for temporarily disabling a content record. |
autoscale | if ticked, the movie or panorama is autoscaled to fit the Warper canvas size. |
Files section
File name is name of the file where the content is stored. This is used for content types: panorama, movie, external, capture and bookmark. Location is the name of the folder where the content is stored.
Download from CMS- download the file associated with the content record. The link to download the file is given in the ‘source’ field. NB this field is currently using Google Drive id’s to download content from the Igloo G-Drive.
Thumbnail section
Generate a thumbnail to display on the layout screen representing this content record.
Thumbnail - if the record currently has an associated thumbnail it is displayed in this section. All thumbnails are stored in the thumbnails folder specified in settings/main_config.xml. Each thumbnail is named <database file>-<record_id>.png, e.g. the thumbnail for database record id=1 in database file content.db is named content.db-1.png. The thumbnail source is either the content file itself (this only applies for movies or panoramas) or is a file in the data folder specified in the ‘thumbnail source' field. FFmpeg is used to generate thumbnails from the content files (in the case of movies, the thumbnail is based on the frame 10 seconds into the movie) or Warper screenshot. The thumbnail source is then further processed using templates to apply a gradient and/or drop shadow effect.
Snapshot - generate a thumbnail using the currently displayed content in the Warper. The thumbnail uses the middle section of the Warper canvas so the wrap position can be adjusted to control how the thumbnail appears. This feature requires the Warper’s screenshot output path to be match the path given in the screenshot_path value in Igloo Home’s settings/main_config.xml file. The Warper screenshot should also be set to PNG format.
Tags section
Tags are text strings which can be associated with a content record. This is useful when grouping records together and can be utilised in the Layouts to determine which content icons to display.
The tag manager section shows two listboxes: the left listbox is for tags which are assigned to the content record and the right listbox is a list of all tags in the database. A new tag can be created by typing the tag string into the tag name input field and then pressing the ‘New tag’ button. The tag will appear at the bottom of the tag list and if selected can be assigned to the current content record by pressing the ‘<< Add’ button. The tag can be unassigned by selecting it from the assigned list and then press ‘>> Remove’. It can be deleted from the database by selecting it in the tag list and then press ‘Delete tag’.
Scene Templates
A template is defined to be a content record with content type ‘scene’ and the template box ticked.
In the File(s) section, each content type is enabled by ticking the box next to the relevant icon. The location field can be used to specify the default folder. Each content type requires a certain file type denoted by its extension.
Igloo Playback, .ivctrl. This file type relates to a clipbank file in Igloo Control. All files in the clipbank are shown in the clip dropdown menu.
Igloo Capture, .ivc. This is an Igloo Capture project file. It replaces all 12 capture inputs with the contents of the .ivc file. The ‘enabled’ status (to display on the Warper screen) of each capture input is defined in the .ivc file.
Igloo Web, .ivwts. This is a Tab Set file from Igloo Web. It replaces all the Igloo Web tabs with those defined in the file. The first tab is sent through to the Warper screen (tabs can be reordered in Igloo Web).
Igloo Realtime, .exe. This is a windows executable file which generates an input for the Warper in the External Application Inputs section of the Layers menu. For example, a Unity based application, utilising the Igloo Unity Toolkit, will generate an input name of ‘UnityCam’ as shown below.
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