Overview; Outputs And Mixes In Mbox V4 - PRG MBOX User Manual

USING OUTPUTS AND MIXES WITH LAYERS

Overview

Previous versions of Mbox used the constructs called Alignment Rectangles for the purposes of centering and cropping
content to certain rectangular areas of the outputs. Alignment rectangles could be configured live in the Mbox Remote
application or offline using a separate application (Mbox Alignment Rectangles). Mbox v4 uses Mixes for this instead,
which can be edited live within the Mbox application itself. Mbox v4 has dedicated tabs on the primary window for the
creation and configuration of outputs and mixes. Once created, both outputs (which are also mixes) and mixes can be
used as destinations for layers. (Refer to "Mixes Tab: Overview" on page 64 for more information on output and mix
properties and setup)

Outputs and Mixes in Mbox v4

In Mbox v3, layers were assigned to alignment rectangles by applying the Auto Crop effect (#212) to the layer and then
using the effect's modifiers to choose the rectangle by index number and whether or not the content was centered in
the rectangle. In Mbox v4 every layer has two parameters – Mix Select and Mix Mode – that allow the selection of the
mix (remember that outputs are also mixes!) using its numerical index and the cropping, centering, rotation, and scaling
of the layer's content with respect to the mix's boundaries. A layer must be assigned to a mix (using the Mix Select
parameter) for the layer will be affected by the properties of the mix (cropping, rotation, 3D camera, etc.).
Mixes in Mbox v4 are numbered 0 through 255. The global surface is always available and is always mix 0. Since 0 is
the default mix assignment for all layers, they can be affected by the global surface's properties by default. Some of the
mix modes (see below for an explanation of mix modes) have no effect on content assigned to the global surface – i.e.
no cropping, no rotation.
Mixes 1 through 32 are outputs. All of these mixes are optional, but there must be at least one output for Mbox to do
anything useful in fullscreen mode with a connected display. Output mixes can have Output Masters assigned to them
(the global surface and mixes 33-255 cannot) which allows them to be mastered from the control console. While Mbox
can have a maximum of 32 outputs, the different versions of Mbox (Designer/Studio/Mini) have different limits for the
allowed number of output masters (32/8/6). Outputs can also have 3D Cameras and keystone/warp assigned to them
using Mbox Remote. 3D Camera and keystone/warp from Mbox Remote does not require the use of output masters and
can override the output master control for an output if desired.
The remainder of the mixes (33 through 255) are optional and can be used for any organizational or compositional needs.
These mixes can't have output masters assigned to them, but have mix modes like the other mixes, and can have 3D
Cameras and keystone/warp assigned to them using Mbox Remote.
When a layer has been assigned to a mix, the default state is to crop the layer's content to the boundaries of the mix.
If a layer is assigned to the global surface (mix 0, the default) then no cropping occurs. But as there is no rendering
outside the boundaries of the global surface, there is no content rendered outside those boundaries anyway.
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