Appearance
Playout engines
How airZ Controller drives airZ Engine, the playout engine that puts your graphics on air.
Broadcast licence
With a Broadcast licence, airZ Controller is the control desk and airZ Engine is the output. You build and run the show in airZ Controller; the engines play it. Each engine has a role:
| Role | Plays |
|---|---|
| Background | Full-screen graphics and background video. |
| Overlay | Graphics and video drawn over the background. |
Only airZ templates and videos go to the engines. Other kinds of item play on airZ Controller's own program output only, and say Not sent to engines on their row.
Add an engine
Open Settings and choose airZ Engines, under BROADCAST. Select Add Engine. In Add airZ Engine:
- Choose its role: Background or Overlay.
- Give it an Engine Name, such as "Engine A".
- Enter its IP Address and its port. The port is usually 5250.
- Under SYNC FOLDERS FOR THIS ENGINE, leave the folders blank to use the global ones (see Sync folders), or set where this engine keeps airZ templates, Media (video) and Template image assets.
- Select Add Engine.
airZ Controller connects at once, and again by itself every few seconds whenever the connection drops.
Check the engines
Each engine's row shows its name, address, role, and CONNECTED or OFFLINE. The heading counts how many are online. The pencil edits an engine; the bin removes it, after asking. A removed engine is disconnected at once, and items and templates routed to it no longer play there until you route them to another engine. Whatever is on air on it stays until it is cleared there.
On the rundown, each item shows the engines it plays on under its name, green when connected and red when not. When the engines refuse a graphic, its row says so: see Taking to air.
Which version of airZ Engine
airZ Controller 1.1.33 needs airZ Engine 1.0.6 or later. Use the current release, 1.0.18:
- engines before 1.0.13 do not open a video clip whose file name contains a space, and say nothing;
- from 1.0.14, a video slot's state (paused, muted, ended) and its position and length show under its controls in Item Configuration;
- from 1.0.18, templates and images whose file names contain Turkish letters load.
Never install airZ Engine 1.0.16
1.0.16 was withdrawn. It leaves some graphics blank on air, such as ones with feathered curved shapes. If an engine runs 1.0.16, install 1.0.18.
Which engine plays an item
airZ Controller looks in this order and uses the first it finds:
- the engines chosen for the item itself, with Bind to Engines in its menu;
- the engines chosen for its template, in the template's details;
- the default engine for its role, set under Default Engine Per Role in Settings › airZ Engines: items without engines of their own go there.
If none is set, the item plays on airZ Controller's program output only.
Bind to Engines lists every engine with a tick box; on an item that already has engines, the menu reads Edit Engine Binding. Tick the engines this item should play on and select Save. Untick them all and save to let the item follow its template again.
Sync folders
The engines play templates and videos from their own folders. Under airZ Engines, set where airZ Controller copies them. Each takes a network or local folder; Browse picks one.
| Folder | Holds |
|---|---|
| Engine Template Sync Path | airZ templates, copied whenever one is added or updated, so the engine can play them. Needs airZ Engine 1.0.6 or later. |
| Media Path | Image and video files, copied when they are added or updated, in the same folder layout. Video slots pick their clips from here. |
| Template Images Path | The images airZ templates use. Left empty, they are not copied anywhere. Re-sync existing images copies the ones already here. |
A folder set on an engine itself, in its SYNC FOLDERS FOR THIS ENGINE, takes the place of the global one for that engine.
When the engine runs on this computer
Under Resource Sharing, turn on Disable Local DeckLink Previews when airZ Engine runs on the same computer as airZ Controller. airZ Controller then leaves the DeckLink cards to the engine: it opens no DeckLink input, for previews or anything else. Program output to a DeckLink is not affected.
Clear the engines
Clear Cache, at the top of the window, takes every graphic off air on every connected engine, clears the program output and empties the template caches. It cannot be undone, so it asks first, with Cancel as the default. When it is done, a message says how many engines it reached.
The engines need no preparing before a show: each one loads an item when it is cued.
If an engine drops off
Its badges on the rundown turn red and its row in Settings reads OFFLINE, and a notice says so once: Could not connect to the engine, or Lost the connection to it, and later that it is connected again. airZ Controller tries again every few seconds.
When an engine cannot play something, a notice names the engine, the template and the reason, such as did not run a trigger because the engine is not connected. If an engine refuses to load a template, the notice says so when you select the item: check the engine's sync folder under airZ Engines, because the engine may not have the template file.
When the engine is back, the templates it was playing are loaded again with their last values, and those that were on air come back on air. Graphics taken off air, by TAKE OUT or Clear Cache, stay off. Videos and live inputs are not restored: take them again.