Migrating from HMD to Elementi

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Introduction

Did you know that Hyper Media Director ("HMD") is a legacy SpinetiX software, retired since Jan 1st, 2014 ? We’ve since developed a new generation of powerful digital signage software called Elementi. Easy to use and featuring hundreds of widgets, Elementi turns live data from your everyday tools into engaging screen content. It also supports all models of SpinetiX players.

Elementi comes not only with a new look, but also with new features comparing to HMD. Nevertheless, the same principles were kept in order to allow a smooth migration from HMD to Elementi. Elementi and HMD may be run simultaneously on the same computer.

How to upgrade from HMD to Elementi

We have good news! You can get a free upgrade to Elementi 3.1.1 (released on Dec 2014) using your current HMD license. Upgrading from HMD to Elementi is very easy:

  1. Sign up or login into your Cockpit account.
  2. Register your HMD license into Cockpit - it will automatically be transformed into an Elementi license.
  3. At this point, you can download and install Elementi 3.1.1 on your PC.


And that's not all ! For a small amount, you could also upgrade directly to the very latest Elementi version, which contains way more features, integrates with a lot of third-party content services and implements the latest security patches - see what's new. For that, you need to buy an Elementi Update Plan for your license:

  1. Click the "Buy" button next to your license to get the prices for 1 or 3-year Elementi Update Plan subscription.
  2. Pay for the Update Plan directly from Cockpit with a credit card.
    For other means of payment, please contact the SpinetiX distributor in your region.
  3. Once done, download and install the latest Elementi version.
  4. Open Elementi and activate your license.

Backward compatibility

  • Elementi supports projects created in HMD, though editing them is somehow limited.
  • Effects created by HMD can be displayed by Elementi but not modified.
  • When installing Elementi, it will automatically use the same projects location as HMD, if it was previously installed on the computer.
  • Layer properties of HMD created svg file, shows only a limited set of options. The dialog is called Layer Properties (limited). To use the new Elementi features such as formatting and effects, you need to create a new Layout.

What is new or changed in Elementi

Generic

File structure

Preview panel

  • Possibility to Mute / unmute the audio directly from the Preview panel.
  • Clicking on the playback control before the time indicator will restart the playback from the start.
  • To turn on the touch screen testing, click on the hand icon.
  • It is now possible to select multiple layers (using CTRL+click) and apply the same changes to all of them. This include moving them as a group.
  • Added alignment of layers. If only one layer is selected, the layer is aligned to the document window. If more than one layer is selected, the layers are aligned respectively to each other.
  • When a media is drag & dropped into the preview panel, its size is automatically set to the native size of the media.
  • Removed the possibility to freely rotate layers -> see the complex transformations example for an alternative.

Edit panel

  • Added a Media Timeline to the Edit panel to control when media are displayed.
  • Order of the Layer tab has been reversed. Layers on top of the display order (Z-order) are now on the top of the window.
  • Easier setting to control if a video is played once, or repeated.

Content editing

  • New justify text alignment.
  • New "Smart text" properties: Automatic fit, Ping-pong, Headline and Automatic Scroll.
  • Possibility to enter directly the position and the size of the media / text layer.
  • Added the possibility to control the alignment of the media inside its frame / layer in the Preview panel.
  • Added option to slice a media (cut some borders of the media) to fit the layer area.
  • Renamed the "Tag for accounting" to "Proof of play".
  • Added many formatting options, such as mat color, padding, rounded corners and effects. See [Layer_Properties#Tutorial|Apply formatting tutorial].
  • Management of the effects has been simplified. The effect can now be directly controlled from the Layer properties dialog. There are 3 tabs controlling effects:
    • In effect: applied when a media / text layer begins.
    • Highlight: applied while the media / text layer is shown.
    • Out effect: applied when the media / text layer ends. Note that for this effect to be shown, the media must have a duration set.
  • Added the possibility to fade in and out of the audio.

Schedule

  • Simplified the views by removing the "Year" view of the Schedule and added a zoom option for the "Day" view .
  • Added icon on top of the Schedule view to easily move to the next day / week / month depending on the selected view.
  • Added a dialog to control scheduled media.
  • Making it simple to add simple recurrence rules (daily playback for instance).

Playlist

  • The Playlist is created in a new folder and have dedicated configuration dialog.
  • New option to shuffle (randomize) the order of playing each time the playlist document is opened.
  • The Playlist is based on jSignage and offers many new transition effects.
  • If no document is opened in the Preview panel, double-click on the Playlist folder will automatically display the playlist content in the preview.
  • When the Playlist is used inside synchronized content and not all the medias have a fixed duration and the playlist is set to loop, a warning is shown to the user since the playlist cannot be synchronized.

Device Management

  • Device status is only shown for devices automatically discovered. For device added manually the status is not shown anymore.
  • When double-click on a device, the device content is automatically shown in the 'current project' tab. The device content is read-only for Elementi S users. Elementi S users must use the Publish button to modify the device content.
  • To Publish a Project simply click on the publish button. A new dialog allows the user to select the target device(s) of the publish action.
  • It is possible to publish to one or more HMP devices, to a collection of HMP devices, to an USB drive or to a web server.
  • The notion of Publish Location has been added, to simplify the use of the Pull Mode.

Template/Widgets

Retrieved from "https://support.spinetix.com/w/index.php?title=Migrating_from_HMD_to_Elementi&oldid=15904"
This page was last modified on 13 September 2019, at 16:49.