Application Options

Application Options are general settings for the WYSIWYG software and apply to the entire application regardless of the show file that you are working on. You might want to update these settings to change WYSIWYG’s appearance or indicate your file-saving preferences, for example.

To modify the application options

1. From the Options menu, choose Application Options.

Result: The Application Options window appears.

General tab

Options on the General tab affect the numeric separators used in WYSIWYG, and the properties for the Product Configuration Wizard.

• Show WYSIWYG configuration wizard on startup: Select this checkbox if you want to see the Product Configuration Wizard each time you launch WYSIWYG. The wizard enables you to choose the level of WYSIWYG that you want to run (for example, it gives you the option of launching a standard version of WYSIWYG, such as Report or Design, or a network version of WYSIWYG). If this checkbox is clear, the same level of WYSIWYG that you chose when running the program for the first time appears by default.
• Check for Updates Automatically: Select this checkbox if you want WYSIWYG to check for updates automatically every time it starts - for as long as it is connected to the Internet. For more information, see AutoUpdate and Installing Updates.
• Mute System Sounds: Select this checkbox to prevent WYSIWYG from playing system sounds, for example when Quick Tools are being applied.
• Region profile for new documents: The profile to be used for such items as units of measurement, voltage and which default lamp should be used in a fixture.
• Shaded View Camera Control: Select from this drop-down list, how the camera is controlled in Shaded view. For more information, see Camera Control.
• Traditional WYSIWYG: Select this option to use the standard 3D camera control in the Shaded view of WYSIWYG.
• Other 3D Applications: Select this option if you want to use the 3D camera control that complies with a different 3D application.

Note: The Visual Camera Path Builder tool is disabled in Shaded views if the Shaded View Camera Control was set to Other 3D Applications in the General tab of the Application Options window.

Appearance

• WYSIWYG Visual Theme: A WYSIWYG visual theme changes how the UI windows and other elements are colored. Select the desired theme from the list to change how WYSIWYG looks. The default setting is the Dark theme.  

Example images of Light and Dark themes applied to WYSIWYG.

• Toolbar Icons Size: Select from the list the size icons will appear on the toolbar. The default setting is Large - 24X24 pixels.

An example of toolbars using the Large icon size (24 x 24 pixels).

An example of the same toolbars using the Small icon size (16 x 16 pixels). 

• Toolbar Icon Style - Select the style you want icons to appear as, either mono colored (Default - Orange) or multi colored (Colored-highlights).
• Ruler Style: Changes how the Ruler looks in CAD mode Wireframe views. Options include Classic White, View Color, and View Color with Border.

Note: Your settings in WYSIWYG Visual Theme, Toolbar Icon Size, Toolbar Icon Style, and Ruler Style are included in WYSIWYG User Data files.

• Enable Instruction Tooltip: Select this checkbox to view helpful instruction tooltips whenever a function is performed.
• Decimal: Select the style for separating whole numbers from decimals. Available options are comma and period. Note that the decimal separator cannot be the same as the co-ordinate separator.
• Co-ordinate: Select the style you want to use to separate coordinates in WYSIWYG. Available options are comma, period, semicolon, colon, or slash. Note that the co-ordinate separator cannot be the same as the decimal separator.

File Options tab

Settings on the File Options tab affect your file saving settings. It is important to save your work often during your work session. WYSIWYG has an Auto Save function that will help to keep your data safe; however, it is always a good idea to get in the habit of saving your show document to an external disk periodically during your work session.

Auto Save Options

• Auto Recover: Select this checkbox to make WYSIWYG store Auto Recover data for the currently open file. WYSIWYG will store data at the interval specified in the Save every ___ minutes field. If WYSIWYG closes unexpectedly (such as due to a power loss), it may be possible to recover the file you were working on based on this data. For more information, see Auto Recover function.
• Save every ___ minutes: The interval of time in which WYSIWYG will store Auto Recover data.
• Enable during: Select this checkbox to enable Auto Recover while working in various modes and views. It is recommended that you keep this option disabled since it can negatively affect performance during simulation.
• Keep backup files: Select this checkbox to save a copy of your document with the “.bak” extension every time you save the file. The backup copy is one save behind the saved copy and is saved in the same folder as the original document. Each new backup copy replaces the previous backup copy. If the main show document becomes corrupted, you can open the backup file to recover your data.
• Choose File Locations...: Select this option to change where Auto Recover and Backup Files are saved.

The default settings for these options are Auto Recover enabled with an interval of 10 minutes and Keep backup files enabled.

Document Saving

• Compress files: Select this checkbox to compress your file up to ten times its original size without affecting the contents of the file. When you select this option, files will take up less space in your computer's memory. You will also be able to send these compressed files as email attachments to your partners and clients with greater ease.
• Save external textures within the document: Select this checkbox if you want the jpeg and/or bitmap used as textures to be saved within your WYSIWYG document. The textures will “travel” with the document and will be visible regardless of the computer on which the document is opened.

Document Loading

• Reload last document on startup: Select this checkbox to ensure that the last document that you have been working on in WYSIWYG is loaded automatically when you launch WYSIWYG.
• Default to Read Only: Select this checkbox to load documents in read-only format. This format is helpful if you are loading someone else’s document and you do not want to accidentally make changes to it.

DWG Import Options

• Reset DWG import association: Click this button to reset the association of specific blocks in DWG files with certain pre-selected fixtures. When you import DWG files, one of the options is to associate a block that is found in a DWG file with a specific fixture. If you decide to remember this association for future imports, all blocks with that name will be imported as the chosen fixture.

Hatch Pattern

• Hatch Pattern unit type: This setting will set a hatch pattern loaded from file to either Imperial or Metric.

Shaded View Export Options

• Shaded View Export Options: Specify a template for naming the exported image file. Click the Export Options button to open the Export Options dialog box where you can choose a file name and folder location for the image file you wish to export.
• Folder Location: Select the Use Current file’s Folder checkbox to select the active folder currently in use, or browse and select a different folder location.
• Image Name Template: Type the name that appears as a name template for all images you wish to export and save, or use smart variables to define the name as the template that appears for the image you wish to export and save.
• Insert Smart Variable: Click to open the Smart Variables window and select a smart variable text from the table of smart variables that are listed in the Production Team Info tab in Document Options.

Result: The name is displayed in the Shaded View Export Options box and appears automatically as the default name for all the images for export.

Tip: You can use smart variables to specify a file name using information listed in the Production Team Info tab in the Document Options window.

• Use smart variables “%Variable Name%” in the Image Name Template box and this information will be displayed automatically if stored in the Production Team Info tab. For example, type %Show Name% and the show name that was stored will be displayed.
• In addition to the smart variables in the Production Team Info, there are additional ones that work for Shaded View Export, such as %file name%, %mode%, %camera%, and %look%. Note: Unlike the %file% smart variable, the %filename% smart variable produces the file's name without the .wyg extension.

Auto Recover function

The Auto Recover function, unlike the Save Backup File function, does not save a .wyg file with a different extension. Instead, multiple file fragments are collected at the specified interval and stored into a temporary file. This temporary file cannot be opened by the user. The default path for ASV files is C:\Users\<USER>\AppData\Local\Temp (if not specified by the user).

WYSIWYG looks for this temporary file every time it runs. If the temporary file is found, WYSIWYG prompts you to load its contents.

• Should you choose to proceed, WYSIWYG will attempt to restore the file based on the data found in the temporary file. If successful, the restored file will be up-to-date as of the last instance when Auto Recover was activated.
• Should you choose not to proceed, the Auto Recover data will be deleted permanently and you will not be able to use it to recover the file.

If the temporary file is not found, WYSIWYG will not display a “recovery” prompt and you will not be able to recover the file using this method.

Note: Many system cleanup utilities and some antivirus software contain settings which automatically delete temporary files. If you do use such software, please ensure that it does not delete files created by WYSIWYG's Auto Recover function. This will prohibit the Auto Recover function from working.

Auto Recover will not function when more than one instance of WYSIWYG is active on the same computer. Running multiple instances of WYSIWYG is neither recommended nor supported, and you will not be notified about Auto Recovery failing if you do choose to run multiple instances.

Toolbars tab

Options on the Toolbars tab affect which Toolbars and Status bar panes you want to display in WYSIWYG, if you want to display Tooltips, and if you want to enable or disable the automatic switching of Shortcut bar categories.

• Show Tooltips on Toolbars: Clear this option to hide the Tooltips that display information about a specific fixture, hang structure, or object when you hover over these objects. Tooltips are displayed by default. For more information on toolbars, see Toolbars.
• Status Bar: Clear this option to hide the Status bar with the selected Status Panes.
• Automatically switch to the category of the Shortcut being created: Clear this option to disable automatic switching of the Shortcut bar category to match the type of Shortcut being created.

Simulation tab

Options on the Simulation tab affect the type of simulation that you want to use, the processing power for beam simulation, and the memory and processing power available for rendering.

OpenGL Simulation

• Enable Enhanced Visualization: Clear this option if your video card does not support enhanced features for beam simulation. This option enables enhanced visualization features. If this option is not selected, some advanced visualization features will turn off in the visualization and revert to a simplified Enhanced Beam visualization.

Note: Switching to another non-Shaded view, then returning back may be required to allow this change to take effect.

• Enable Anti-Aliasing: Clear this option if your video card does not support Anti-Aliasing. Anti-Aliasing is a method of smoothing out and sharpening rough or jagged edges of images to produce a more polished result.
• Enable Deferred Rendering: Deferred Rendering provides a performance boost to WYSIWYG's Shaded views. Clear this option to disable Deferred Rendering for all Shaded views whenever WYSIWYG is run. On some systems, Deferred Rendering is not supported and will be automatically disabled.

Rendering Simulation

• Number of Cores: This box is auto-filled with the number of processors and/or processor cores available in your computer. It is used to specify the number of processors available for rendering. Modify this number only if you want WYSIWYG's renderer to use less than the total number of processors/processor cores available in your computer.
• Write log files: Select this checkbox to generate a log file during rendering. Log files are stored in the "Render" folder, which is located inside the "Bin" folder within the WYSIWYG installation folder. The typical path to this folder is C:\ProgramData\CAST Software\WYSIWYG\<Release folder>.

DMX Processing

• Number of Cores: Select the number of cores that you have available on your computer for DMX. Modify this number only if you upgrade the number of processors.

Full Screen Mode

Select the full screen mode that will render your Shaded view simulation.

• Windowed Full Screen Mode: The default full screen mode of the Shaded view. Windowed Full Screen Mode renders all application windows that are open in your computer.

Tip: Shifting the viewing angle of the Shaded view in full screen will be smoother in Windowed Full Screen Mode, and also depending on the video hardware installed in your computer.

• Exclusive Full Screen Mode: The regular full screen mode that renders only the single application (Shaded view) that is active on your desktop.

Tip: Render a single application in this mode with a dedicated video card to achieve higher performance. However, shifting the viewing angle of the Shaded view in full screen may flicker between views or windows in Exclusive Full Screen Mode, and also depending on the video hardware installed in your computer.

Additional Interfaces tab

Options on the Additional Interfaces tab affect how you monitor pipe tape printer, CITP, Art-Net, sACN, RTTrPM, and PSN interfaces.

Tape Printer Interface

WYSIWYG supports EPSON POS printers with USB and Ethernet interfaces.

To use Epson POS printers

Download and install the EPSON OPOS ADK driver.

Result:

• The POS model is added to your computer.
• The POS model is added to the Device drop-down list in the Tape Printer Interface section of the Additional Interfaces tab in the Application Options window.

Notes:

• To continue using your old POS printer like before, select COM from the Device drop-down list and there is no need to install the OPOS ADK driver.
• The old POS printer will also work with the OPOS ADK driver installed if COM is selected from the Device drop-down list.

Tape Printer Interface

• Device: Select from the drop-down list the tape printer model.
• Port: Select from the drop-down list which port on your computer the pipe tape printer connects to.
• Baud: Select from the drop-down list the baud rate at which the pipe tape printer is running. The baud rate is the rate at which your modem can transmit and receive data.

Attention: Ensure that the Baud (rate) value set for the tape printer matches the communication speed set for the printer.

• Flow Control: Select from the drop-down list the method of data control between the pipe tape printer and the computer. Available options are Hardware, Software, and None. The default is Hardware.
• Printer DPI: Select from the drop-down list the printing density for the pipe tape printer, which varies from one printer to another. Choose from either 180 or 203.
• Use USB/Serial converter: Select this option if your pipe tape printer is connected through a USB/Serial converter. (This is required if a Serial port is not available on your computer).
• Delay buffer: Set the delay buffer (in milliseconds) for the USB/Serial converter here. Check the documentation that came with your converter for details. The default is 0, which should be acceptable in most cases.

Note: Be sure to check in the Device Manager that these parameters match those of the COM port to which the Pipe Tape Printer is connected.

CITP Interface

This option is available only with WYSIWYG Perform.

• Enable CITP: Select this checkbox to enable CITP data reception, and then restart WYSIWYG. For more information about working with CITP, see To configure a new video source for streaming video.

grandMA3 viz-key

For information on how to connect with grandMA 3 onPC consoles via grandMA3 viz-key, see https://cast-soft.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/MA-viz-key-Connectivity-Guide-1.pdf.

• Enable viz-key: Select this checkbox to enable the grandMA 3 viz-key protocol driver to load at startup. To connect to viz-key, this checkbox must be checked. The Update button will be enabled.

• Update: Click Update and select the Updater interface if you want to update the grandMA 3 viz-key, to allow it to connect to a different version of grandMA 3 where it's been connecting to so far.
• Plugin Version: From this drop-down list, select the version of the grandMA 3 software you wish to connect to. This is the version that must be running on the physical console, or the version of grandMA 3 onPC that must be running when connection is attempted via the Device Manager in LIVE mode.

ArtNet Interface

• Local Address: Select from the drop-down list the IP address from which the incoming Art-Net device data is being received by this computer.

sACN Interface

For information on how to set up and use the sACN connectivity, see Connecting to an sACN Device. This option is only available with WYSIWYG Perform.

• Local Address: Select from the drop-down list the IP address from which the incoming sACN device data is being received by this computer.

RTTrPM Interface

For information on how to set up and use the RTTrPM connectivity, see Connecting to an RTTrPM Device. This option is only available with WYSIWYG Perform.

• Local Address: Select from the drop-down list the IP address from which the incoming RTTrPM device data is being received by this computer.
• Group Address: Type the IP multicast address from group data transmissions.
• Port: Type the port number used by the RTTrPM device connection.

PSN Interface

For information on how to set up and use the PSN connectivity, see Connecting to a PSN 2.0 Device. This option is only available with WYSIWYG Perform.

• Local Address: Select from the drop-down list the IP address from which the incoming PSN device data is being received by this computer.
• Group Address: Type the IP multicast address from group data transmissions.
• Port: Type the port number used by the PSN device connection.

File Locations tab

Options on the File Locations tab direct WYSIWYG where to save and find certain files used during operation.

• Default WYSIWYG Files Folder: This is the default path where WYSIWYG files are saved. Edit the path to save files to a new location.
• Auto Recover: This is the default path where WYSIWYG Auto Recover data is saved. Edit the path to save files to a new location. The default path of ASV files is C:\Users\<USER>\AppData\Local\Temp (if not specified by the user). For more information, see Auto Recover function.
• Backup Files: This is the default path where WYSIWYG Backup Files are saved. Edit the path to save files to a new location.
• Hatch Pattern Files: Enter the location of hatch pattern files (.pat files) on your computer here to add the files for use in WYSIWYG.
• Shaded View Recordings: Enter the path where recorded video (.mp4 files) of your Shaded view will be saved.
• Temp Location: Enter the path to the temporary location for the Shaded view recordings.
• File Location: Enter the path to the location where Shaded view recordings will be saved.