Display outputs¶
Place each projector's output rectangle on a physical display, so the finished image leaves the right connector at the right position.
Everything you align in Alignment and Masking ends up inside one of these rectangles. The Outputs view is where you decide which display it lands on and where on that display it sits.
Open the Outputs view¶
- In the top bar, click the projector name — or Projectors when nothing is selected yet.
- At the top of the Projectors view, click Outputs in the Settings / Outputs switch.
Tip
Once the project has at least one projector, hovering the same top-bar button opens a dropdown listing them all under Select Projector, plus Manage Projectors which opens the view directly.
What the canvas shows¶
The canvas is a scale map of the displays attached to the machine running Moonshine, laid out the way the operating system arranges them.
| Element | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Large rounded rectangle | One physical display, labeled Monitor and its number |
| Line under the monitor label | The display's pixel size, and its device name when the machine reports one |
| Primary badge | The operating system's primary display |
| Small colored rectangle | One projector's output, drawn at the projector's own resolution, in the projector's color |
Output rectangles are labeled Projector 1, Projector 2, and so on, numbered by their position in the projector list — that numbering is independent of the name you give a projector.
The rectangle's size comes from Resolution on the projector's Settings page. A 1920 × 1080 projector draws a 1920 × 1080 rectangle; change the resolution and the rectangle resizes.
Rectangle states¶
| Appearance | State | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Solid outline, strong fill | Enabled | The output is live on that display at that position |
| Dashed outline, faded fill | Disabled | Position is set, but the output is switched off |
| Thick dashed outline, + Click to enable label | Unassigned (ghost) | This projector has no output yet — see below |
| Red dashed outline | Warning | The rectangle hangs off the display, or overlaps another enabled output |
| Faded, cursor blocked | Locked | Another operator is editing this projector — see Locks |
The ghost rectangle¶
A projector that has never been given an output is drawn as a ghost: a thick dashed rectangle on the first display, at its top-left corner, carrying the label + Click to enable.
The ghost is a placeholder, not a live output. To turn it into a real one:
- Press and hold on the ghost rectangle.
- Drag it onto the display you want, and to roughly the position you want.
- Release. The output is created, enabled, and assigned to the display under the rectangle's center.
Warning
Pressing and releasing without moving only selects the projector — it leaves the ghost as it was. On the canvas, you have to actually drag it to create the output.
If you would rather not drag, two other controls create the same output at the top-left of the first display: the Enabled checkbox on the sidebar output card, and the Output pill on the projector's card in the list. Both leave it at position 0, 0 for you to move afterwards.
Move an output¶
Drag any rectangle to reposition it. While you drag:
- The rectangle follows the pointer across the whole canvas, including over other displays.
- It snaps when an edge comes near a display edge, or near another output's edge on the same display. The pull is measured on screen, so it feels the same however large the desktop being mapped is.
- Positions are whole pixels — there is no sub-pixel placement.
On release, the output is assigned to the display containing the rectangle's center. If the center is not over any display, the output stays on the display it started from.
Snapping targets are:
- The left and top edges of the display (position 0, 0).
- The right and bottom edges of the display — so an output can be flushed into a corner exactly.
- Every edge of every other output rectangle on the same display, both leading and trailing, which is how you butt two projector outputs together with no gap and no overlap.
Type exact positions¶
When the Projectors view is open, the left sidebar shows an output card for the selected projector, below the projector list. It shows the projector's name and resolution, and — when there is no output yet — the note Output not configured.
| Field | Effect |
|---|---|
| Monitor | Moves the output to another display. The position is adjusted so the rectangle stays fully on the new display. |
| Origin X | Distance in pixels from the display's left edge to the output's left edge. |
| Origin Y | Distance in pixels from the display's top edge to the output's top edge. |
| Enabled | Switches the output on or off. |
If no projector is selected, the card reads Select a projector from the sidebar to edit its output.
Note
Typed Origin X / Origin Y values are taken as entered. Enter a value that pushes the rectangle past the edge of the display and the rectangle turns red rather than being clamped back — so a deliberate overhang is possible, but it is always flagged.
Red rectangles¶
An output turns red and dashed for one of two reasons:
- It hangs off the display. Part of the rectangle is outside the display's bounds, so those pixels have nowhere to go.
- It overlaps another enabled output on the same display. Two projectors writing to the same pixels is almost always a mistake — for edge blending, place the outputs side by side and blend in the projected image, not in the display layout.
Overlap is only flagged between outputs that are both enabled. A disabled output can sit anywhere without raising a warning.
The empty canvas¶
When no output is enabled anywhere, the canvas shows Drag a projector here, or enable its output in Settings across the middle. Drag a ghost rectangle onto a display, or tick Enabled in the sidebar output card, and the message disappears.
When no displays are listed¶
If the machine has not yet reported its displays, the Outputs view shows a short waiting message instead of the canvas, and there is nothing to drag. The display list is sent automatically once the connection is up, so this normally clears within a second or two of opening a project.
If it never clears, the control surface is not talking to the machine — check Network.
Multiple operators¶
Output rectangles obey the same locking as everything else. A projector held by another operator is drawn faded, the cursor shows as blocked, and dragging does nothing — but clicking still selects it, so you can inspect its position while someone else works on it. See Locks.