UCI Deployment

Q-SYS Level 1 Training : Control Overview

6 ) Audio Playback

13m 10s

9 ) QSC Conferencing Solution

21m 53s

12 ) Final Exam Overview

15m 59s

Video Transcript

UCI Deployment 7m 11s
0:08
Once your UCI is complete, it’s time to deploy it to a touchscreen.
0:13
With a single button you could deploy your UCI to any number of QSC touchscreens, iPads, iPhones,
0:19
tablets, or Windows PCs.
0:21
Or, you could deploy hundreds of different UCIs to touchscreen across your enterprise.
0:28
But first thing’s first
0:29
as soon as you added a User Control Interface to your design,
0:32
you may have noticed a notification in the top menu, as well as in the Design Inspector,
0:37
that indicates your design incorporates a feature that requires a Feature license.
0:43
In the Inspector you can see that UCI Deployment is listed under Licensed Elements.
0:48
When you Save this design to a Core and Run, it will check to see if the Core has a UCI Deployment license.
0:55
To learn more about Q-SYS software licenses,
0:58
please watch our tutorial videos on how to add these licenses to your Core processor.
1:02
Once your Core is authorized to deploy UCIs, doing so is very simple! Let’s look at QSC touchscreens first.
1:10
QSC makes a variety of touchscreens in different sizes and formats, including tabletop and wall-mount versions.
1:18
Since these are networked Q-SYS peripherals, they need to be added to your design’s Inventory.
1:23
Like any inventory item, be sure that their name in their properties matches the name of the physical device,
1:31
which you can find by using the Configurator tool.
1:34
Then, take a look at the “UCI” property of this device.
1:37
By default it displays the “Inventory Status” UCI,
1:41
which is that generic status page for your inventory items that we saw earlier.
1:45
To change this, simply select your own custom UCI from this drop-down menu.
1:50
The next time you save this design to a Core, it will tell the touch screen to display your custom UCI.
1:57
For wall-mount models, be sure to select “Landscape” or “Portrait”,
2:01
and you may notice that you can choose the “Flipped” version of either of these
2:05
if you realize the device was installed upside-down.
2:09
In some cases, you may want a touch screen to have access to multiple different UCIs,
2:14
perhaps depending on the user’s log on code. In this case, we’re going to change the “UCI Assignment” property.
2:22
In “Static” mode it will only displays the single UCI that you’ve assigned,
2:27
but in “Dynamic” mode this UCI assignment can be changed while the system is running.
2:32
The selection point for this UCI now moves from the Properties panel into the touch screen’s control panel.
2:38
Let’s drag the touch screen’s Status/Control component into our design to see this,
2:43
and we’ll save this design to the Core.
2:45
The Status tab shows us the health of the device, and the Configuration tab gives us some more options.
2:51
Since this UCI is in Dynamic mode,
2:54
you can see that I can change which UCI is displayed by using this dropdown menu here.
3:00
You can do the same thing to manually change the Page control.
3:05
This means that you could put these fields onto the UCI itself as an additional method of navigating the UCI,
3:11
or you could capture the states of these controls with a custom Snapshot,
3:16
which would let the user change the UCI, page, or any number of other controls in the design at the same time.
3:23
Also in this area you can adjust the brightness of the Backlight on the Touchscreen,
3:28
you can customize the number of minutes before the screen dims to half-brightness or turns off,
3:33
you could manually trigger these states, and you can also Disable the Popup Number Pad.
3:38
Certain controls like gain knobs give you the option to enter an exact value with a popup keypad,
3:44
but if you’d prefer to deactivate this option, this button will do that.
3:48
For QSC touch screens, that’s pretty much everything there is to know.
3:52
Next, let’s look at iPhones and iPads.
3:55
For these devices, you will first need to install the free Q-Sys Control App from the App Store.
4:00
Then, connect your device to the same wireless network that your Q-SYS system is on.
4:05
Now, you’ll see a list of all the available UCIs, and you can select which one you want to display.
4:11
Remember, if you don’t want a certain UCI to be listed on this screen, change its Private setting to Yes.
4:18
You can also access a UCI from a networked Windows desktop or tablet.
4:23
Again, you’ll need to install some free software for this – in this case it’s the UCI Viewer application.
4:30
This application comes zipped as a separate executable file when you download the Q-SYS Designer software.
4:35
When you launch this standalone application on your Windows device,
4:39
you’ll see a list of available UCIs on the network.
4:43
This program has a couple of extra buttons to collapse the side panel… enter full screen mode…
4:48
the top menu bar… etc.
4:51
You can also right click to select each of these modes.
4:54
Using the Q-SYS Control App or UCI Viewer software give you the advantage of selecting any UCI on the network,
5:02
but there is one disadvantage.
5:04
I showed you that you can manually change the UCI or Page
5:08
that is currently displayed on a QSC native touch screen from within Q-SYS,
5:13
because you have a component that represents that exact physical device.
5:18
This loads a snapshot that might reset every touch screen to a welcome screen,
5:22
or log every user off at the end of the day. You get the idea.
5:26
But, there’s no corresponding component for your iPad, or Windows PC.
5:32
So, how can you control that device from Q-SYS? Don’t worry – we’ve thought of that.
5:37
For this case, you’ll want to go to your Inventory and add a UCI Viewer.
5:44
Both the Q-SYS Control App and the UCI Viewer software can be configured to sync to this UCI Viewer,
5:50
which can then in turn be controlled within Q-SYS.
5:54
In the Windows application this is very easy
5:57
simply select “UCI Viewers” rather than “UCI Names,” and you can sync with the UCI Viewer component of your choice.
6:04
For iPads and iPhones, you actually need to navigate to your device’s Settings screen,
6:08
and find the entry for Q-SYS Control.
6:12
Here you’ll find an empty field called “UCI Viewer Name.”
6:16
Be sure to enter the exact name of your UCI Viewer from the design into this field.
6:21
Now when you connect, your device will sync with that UCI Viewer,
6:24
and behave like a touch screen that can be controlled by Q-SYS.
6:28
That’s it for deployment.
6:30
DON’T FORGET that you CAN and SHOULD test your UCI in Emulation mode.
6:37
You don’t need a UCI Deployment license for this, and you can even do it without a Core.
6:42
So, now we’ve shown you all the tools you have at your disposal to build, customize, and deploy UCIs,
6:49
but just because you have a hammer and chisel doesn’t mean you can make a sculpture.
6:55
So, in the next videos we’ll dive into some basic concepts of how to make a UCI easy to understand and navigate,
7:02
with the user experience in mind. Let’s take a quick break and we’ll see you next time.

Lesson Description

UCI Deployment 7m 11s

Demonstrates how to deploy your UCI onto a PC or Touchscreen device.

Tips and Definitions

UCI Deployment 7m 11s

Coming soon.