ARFX Pro Menu with Multiscreen

Section 10. ARFX Pro Menu with Multiscreen

In the Unreal Editor, you may have noticed a new drop-down menu that had been added to the main layout. From there, you will find items that include the ARFX Pro menu and this Knowledge Base.    

This menu contains multiple editor UI that are way more involved than what will be covered in this article.

Unlike the normal ARFX Camera, the ARFX Pro menu with a Multiscreen Camera has more options that are important to making final adjustments.

This menu is a simplified version of what is shown in the Details panel of a selected ARFX Camera. It will find the  first compatible camera in the scene and populate its information here. Any changes made to this menu will be reflected in the camera but not the other way around (meaning changes made in the Details menu will not be reflected on this menu). In this way, you can easily find and customize your camera for 95% of all use cases.  

Important

There is currently a bug in which closing Unreal Editor with this menu open will result in a blank window. Simply close the window and open the menu again to fix this.

Section 10.1 ARFX Pro Menu with a Multiscreen Camera.

As you may have noticed, the ARFX Pro menu sports an interface above the camera options that a normal ARFX Camera does not have. This interface is for further customizing your camera’s Views to better fit your physical display and is meant to be used while in PIE. The goal of this interface is to allow adjusting your screen to be easy and intuitive.

You must be in Play In Editor to see any adjustments being made. Certain buttons will not be usable until you are in play, as well.

Section 10.2 Manual Edge Adjustment.

The main way to adjust your Multiscreen Camera’s views.      

These controls allow you to modify the inner screen facing the edge of each view. What is happening is that you are modifying the Margin value of each view, shifting the image and the edge line to the left or right. When changing the selected index, you will notice that it ranges one less than the actual number of indices. The reason is due to only being able to edit the inner facing edge of said view.

You can switch from Manual View Adjustment to Manual Edge Adjustment by clicking on Switch to Edge Adjustment.

Section 10.3 How to Use Manual Edge Adjustment.

When running your scene with calibration enabled and showing the selected edge enabled, you will see the edge line you are adjusting turn red from green.

• Toggle Calibration - Toggles the screen calibration UI. This button is only interactable while in PIE and is required if you want to use the next button.

• Show Selected Edge - The green lines that make up your view segments while on the calibration screen are, by default, not showing which edge you are adjusting. Pressing this button will turn the edge of your current index red. This button is only interactable while in PIE and requires Calibration to be visible to do anything.

• Index - Allows you to change which index’s edge to modify. Note that this is always going to be one less than the maximum, as you are only editing the inner edge’s margin.

• Margin - Pressing the arrows will adjust the margin of your selected index by the set increment value. The current value displayed is an editable text box that you can use to manually set the value yourself.

• Increments - The increment value of the arrows used in the Margin.

Your goal is to adjust the edge until the line is aligned with the edge of your physical screen’s edge. To save you must keep the menu open and stop PIE in the editor. Once you are out of play, the menu will automatically copy any changes made over to the camera in the editor. Don’t forget to save your work!

Section 10.4 Manual View Adjustment.

A more in-depth method of adjusting your Multiscreen Camera’s views.

These controls allow you to modify each view’s primary settings, either in steps or completely manually. Unlike in the camera’s details panel, values such as Width, Height, and Rotation are freely adjustable here as the menu will automatically recalculate the positional and rotational values for you with each input.

This is more of a freeform adjustment tool, allowing you to customize the Multiscreen Camera in a way that breaks from the norm or to finely tune each segment so that they are exactly the values you wish. You can only make these adjustments reliably here in the ARFX Pro menu.

You can switch from Manual Edge Adjustment to Manual View Adjustment by clicking on Switch to View Adjustment.

Section 10.5 How to use Manual View Adjustment.

When running your scene with calibration enabled and showing the selected view enabled, you will see the whole view segment be highlighted blue in contrast to the default green color.

• Toggle Calibration - Toggles the screen calibration UI. This button is only interactable while in [PIE] and is required if you want to use the next button.

• Show Selected Edge - The green lines that make up your view segments while on the calibration screen are by default not showing which edge you are adjusting. Pressing this button will turn the edge of your current index red. This button is only interactable while in [PIE] and requires Calibration to be visible to do anything.

• Index - Allows you to change which view segment to modify.

• Increments - The increment value the arrows use in Width and Height.

• Width - Adjust the width of your selected view segment. It considers the segment’s rotation if any in its calculations. The text representing its current value can be manually edited.

• Height - Adjust the height of your selected view segment. It considers the segment’s rotation if any in its calculations. The text representing its current value can be manually edited.

• Orientation - The rotation of your segment that must be edited manually. The values in order are pitch, roll, and yaw.

• Offset - Allows for the manual adjustment of the view segment’s position relative to its center point. You can use this to have a view segment that is physically detached from the rest of the Views if needed.

To save, you must keep the menu open and stop PIE in the editor. Once you are out of play, the menu will automatically copy any changes made over to the camera in the editor. Don’t forget to save your work!

Section 10.6 The Possible Limitations of Rotation Adjustments.

Technically, it is possible to turn one of your segments in a way so that it can become a floor or ceiling panel. However, in practice, you will quickly see that trying to do so will skew or twist the segment in directions you do not want. This is a classic gimbal-lock situation and is not something that can be easily remedied.  It is due to this problem that we suggest sticking to adjusting a segment’s yaw only.

If you wish for a more custom view, it would be best to model your stage in software like Blender. A tutorial on how to do this can be found in Multi_ViewsBlender.

Section 10.7 Camera Options and The Rest.

The rest of the menu is nearly identical when using an ARFX Pro Camera.

Following the manual adjustment, UI is the settings and variables that make up the Multiscreen Camera. In comparison to the ARFX Camera, with multiscreen, you now have Views and Views Generator.

Due to certain limitations, the button to generate your view is not available in the ARFX Pro menu. Both importing an OBJ file and generating from View Generator can only be done in the norma Details panel.