File import
From SpinetiX Support Wiki
Contents
Introduction
File import refers to the process of adding one or multiple files inside a project, opened inside Elementi / HMD, from another application, such as: Windows Explorer, Desktop etc.
To import one or more files, follow these steps:
- Find your project within the "Projects" tab (Browse panel). Or create one if necessary.
- Double-click on the project icon to open it.
- Drag & drop the files within the Browse panel from the external application.
- You can also right-click inside the Browse panel and select the "Import..." / "Upload" option.
Supported files
The following types of files can be imported and displayed / previewed within Elementi / HMD:
- Media files: images, video files, audio files;
- SVG animations;
- ICS calendars;
Notes:- Beside media and text files, Elementi / HMD also allows importing entire folders and archives created from Elementi / HMD (as .7z) or from other applications (as .7z or .zip).
- Text-based files, such as: XML, RSS, TXT, CSV, JS, HTML, ASP, JSP etc., can be imported in a project, but they cannot be previewed. (For more details about usage of web pages, you should also read Web content.)
- PowerPoint presentations and Flash animations can be converted into videos by Elementi 3.x / HMD, though it's recommended to have them exported directly from the source application. (Elementi 2015 no longer supports this.)
- Some files might be converted from the original type to a supported file type when imported (e.g., tiff to png images) - if the import mechanism is bypassed, then these cannot be previewed, nor used.
Media files
When importing a media file using drag & drop from outside Elementi / HMD (e.g., Windows Explorer, Desktop etc.), the media file is automatically checked against the target HMP specifications (according to the type / model set for that project). If the file is supported, it is imported / copied (the file might be converted to a supported format first) into the project. Otherwise the file is rejected and an error message with details regarding the reason of rejection is displayed.
Media files are not checked when they are:
- copied from Widgets library or Assets tabs (or from another opened tab in case of HMD);
- imported from an archive (files inside archives are not checked);
- manually copied via Windows Explorer directly into the project folder (thus bypassing the import mechanism).
Notes:- To be sure that the HMP will display a certain file, ensure that the project type / model is set accordingly to the HMP model where the project will be published to.
- See how to use the media files once they are imported into Elementi.
Images
For more details about video / audio file formats and codecs, see Image decoding page.
This is what happens when importing images into Elementi / HMD:
- PNG, JPEG, animated GIF, and SVG images are imported, since they are natively supported by the HMP.
- Other types of images (e.g., non-animated GIF, TIF, BMP etc.) are automatically converted into PNG images (the ".png" extension will be added to the original file name).
- Large images are proportionally resized when they are imported - the biggest dimension is reduced to 1920 pixels (respectively 1280 pixels for HMP130 / HMP100 projects).
- Note that in case of multiscreen content, Elementi 2015 will not downsize the image, but create a multiscreen image that is used to display the imported image at its full resolution on multiple screens.
- If the width and height dimensions of the image are not larger than 1920 pixels, then no resizing is done regardless of the image being used full-screen or as a very small layer inside the project. Therefore, when displaying simultaneously multiple images on the screen and the original images are quite large, it's recommended to reduce the size of those images before importing them to reduce the memory consumption.
- For instance, if you want to display 10 images in a row on a player set to 1080p (1920x1080), then the images should be resized so that the width is not larger than 192 pixels.
- If the player needs to render a certain image at a lower size than the original, then it will downsize that image on-the-fly upon rendering. This should be avoided because of quality and performance reasons.
Warning:Video / audio files
For more details about video / audio file formats and codecs, see Video decoding & Audio decoding pages.
Video & audio files are verified by Elementi / HMD and can only be imported if their properties are within the target HMP specifications.
Starting with Elementi 2015, when importing a video file that is outside the player' specifications or use a not recommended codec / container, the user is prompted to automatically transcode it into the good format.
- The user can also re-encode a video within Elementi - this is useful for cases when the videos are within specs, but not optimized for player playback.
- See also how large videos are imported for the special case of multiscreen project.
For Elementi 3.x and HMD, the file is rejected and an error message shown. The video / audio file must be transcoded using a supported video / audio codec to be accepted.
Warning: