Granular control of window layout on Mac
I've got 8 cameras (with 3 different resolutions) in one display window, with stretch images to fill available space.
Is there a preferences file that can be manually tweaked by the user to adjust the layout for more granular control of individual sizes and positions?
Comments
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Right-click (or control-click) on a particular camera's video feed in any video window, and the following menu will pop up with a bunch of options - I've highlighted the ones relevant for controlling layout:
This allows you to finely adjust the layout of cameras in that window - here's an example to demonstrate:
This is explained more in Customising Display Layouts section of the user manual.
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I've used those controls and they do a reasonable job. To get something suitable, I've ended up with an 8-camera layout like this:
As you can see, 5 of the cameras are square shaped (when of course they are rectangular in reality).
I would like to try something like the following, but cannot achieve it.
Even if I dump a camera, I cannot get this either:
I'm sure you tested many window layout methodologies, and there's no doubt that the current set up does a fine job. But ... there's always a user who wants more flexibility. 😂
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Here's how to get the 8-camera layout you want:
In the above example:
- Number of columns in window fixed at 3
- Lounge 2 camera: 2x width, 3x height
- Gallery 1 camera: 2x height
- Gallery 2 camera: 2x height
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Thank for for that, Ben. With your assistance I was able to recreate my desired layout. Unfortunately windows are still out of shape, i.e. stretched or scrunched.
I've resorted to the classic system found in SecuritySpy of days gone by and created three window groups which I've resized to fit my needs.
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Glad to hear that you found the working formula to achieve the layout you wanted. Beyond this, I'm not sure what additional flexibility we can offer - it's inevitable that with a layout like this, the size and aspect ratio of some cameras place limits on the size and aspect ratio that is achievable by other cameras. In any case, I'm glad to hear that the separate-window approach does what you want!
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As a programmer myself, I'm aware that this is no trivial task. But with regards to flexibility ... in an ideal world -- and given that I know nothing of what you've already tried, or the complexities involved!!! 🤣 -- I can envisage a blank canvas (window) onto which the user adds individual cameras, allowing for dragging, resizing and positioning of each. There would be an option to display a camera at its native ratio, or allow freeform adjustment, along with a snap to grid feature. Such an approach would avoid the stretch and crunch referred to above, or at least allow the user to decide which windows are distorted.
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Just to close off this topic. I've got my 8 cameras into two windows now. If one day in the distant future, your All Cameras layout would permit such granular tweaking, it would be fantastic. In the meantime it's great we have groups.
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Your updated layout Wouldn't be impossible under SecuritySpy's current scheme, but it would require us to add the option to set cameras to more than 4x high. You're right that the dual-window solution is probably going to be preferable for something like this.
