Screens and media

Everything you upload lives exactly once in the media library. Displays only point to it. The same image on four devices is four references to one entry, not four files.

The media library#

You open it with the image icon in the toolbar. At the top you filter by “Alle”, “Bilder”, “Clips” and “Ton” (all, images, clips, sound), with a search next to it. Every entry has a menu with “Gross ansehen” (view large), “Umbenennen” (rename) and “Entfernen” (remove). The remove entry tells you right there how often the item is in use.

Uploading#

Just drop files anywhere onto the editor window, or pick them in the media library through “Dateien” (files). A file that is already in the library is recognized and not stored twice. Each file can be up to 25 MB.

We scale large images down to at most 4096 pixels on the longest edge before uploading. That covers every display and 4K exports with room to spare. Hardly any browser apart from Safari reads HEIC photos from an iPhone, so better save them as JPG or PNG.

A screenshot on the display#

1. Select the device.
2. In the right-hand column, under “Screenshot”, click “Hinzufügen” (add). The media library opens with the device as its target.
3. Click an entry or drag in a new file. The dialog closes as soon as the image is on.

In a still, a display holds exactly one image, and the button then reads “Austauschen” (replace). In a film, a display can show several images or clips one after another, each with “Von” and “Bis” (from, to) in seconds. As long as you leave those empty, they share the timeline evenly.

Fitting#

When the aspect ratio does not quite match, “Einpassung” (fitting) below the list decides.

Websites on laptop and monitor#

On the MacBooks and the Studio Display, Showoff treats an image as a website. It keeps its full width and starts at the top, and the bottom is trimmed or its lower edge quietly extended. A 16:9 screenshot fits the 16:10 of a MacBook that way, without cutting off the logo or sidebar on the left.

Status bar and menu bar#

On phones, “Statusleiste ersetzen” (replace status bar) draws the time, signal and a full battery over the top edge of the screenshot. Goodbye to yesterday’s time and the half-empty battery. It only works with a filling image. On laptop and monitor the switch is called “Menüleiste” (menu bar) and puts the page below a bar with time, Wi-Fi and battery, just like on a Mac.

Click-through#

In a film you can turn several screenshots into a walkthrough. Open the media library through “Hinzufügen” on the device, click “Klickstrecke” (click-through) and then click the images in the order they should appear. “Je Bild” sets the seconds per image, “Anreihen” (line up) builds it all. Every image gets its time slot and an area the camera travels to.

With your phone#

Phones and tablets can be linked to a real phone running the Showoff app. Click “Kein Telefon” (no phone) at the top, then “Code anzeigen” (show code), and scan the code with the app. The code is valid for one minute.

• Turn on “Bildschirm übertragen” (share screen) on the phone and its screen appears in the media library.
• “Bild” saves a still of it. In a film, “Clip” records up to 60 seconds.
• “Sichern & anreihen” (save and line up) saves and appends the result after the last image. That is how you record a click-through step by step.
• The phone can also turn the device on the stage with its own orientation. A strip on the stage then offers “Übernehmen” (apply), or you cancel and the rotation goes back.

Recording your own screen#

When you open the media library for a MacBook or the Studio Display, it offers “Bildschirm aufnehmen” (record screen) instead of the phone. You pick a tab, a window or the whole screen, and the recording goes into the library as a clip. It stops after 90 seconds, and the finished file can be at most 25 MB. If the upload fails, the recording stays in your browser and you can upload or discard it later.