Publishing Quickstart

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Last updated: Feb 20, 2024Version comment
7 min read

 

Introduction

This guide walks through the process of using BrightAuthor:connected to create a simple presentation and then publishing that presentation to a player.

The player must already have been set up. If this has not yet been done, first go through the player setup process outlined in the BrightSign Player Setup Quickstart.

What You Will Need

  • A BrightSign player that has already been set up. If you have not set up your player yet, do so by following the BrightSign Player Setup Quickstart.

  • Mac or PC with the BrightAuthor:connected software installed. This software should have already been installed as part of the player setup process.

  • For Standalone configured players, you will also need a blank microSD card and a microSD card adapter (computers with SD card readers typically require an adapter to access microSD cards)

  • Visual access to the display on which the presentation will be displayed.

Creating a Presentation

In the BrightAuthor:connected app:

  1. From the drop-down menu next to the Presentation tab, select New.

  2. Select Single Zone > Playlist as the presentation type.

  3. Enter the presentation Name.

  4. Select a Destination folder.

  5. Select your BrightSign player model under Target Device.

  6. Select the Connector type that is used to connect the player to the display.

  7. Select Start.

Presentations can contain one or more media “zones”. A zone represents a defined section of the display. Each zone can play its own playlist of media content. For example, a presentation could have one zone with a looping series of videos, another zone that displays a slideshow of photos, and another zone with a scrolling market ticker of various stock prices. Each of these zones are simultaneously displayed. In this guide, a single zone presentation will be created. More detail about zones can be found here.

You should see the following screen. From here, you can toggle between the presentation’s Layout (zone placement and positioning) and its Content (media files like video, images, etc.). Select the Content tab to add media files to the presentation. Alternatively, you can double-click on the zone (the green “Zone 1” box in the pic).

From the Content tab:

  1. Select Open (a) to view the file system on the Mac or PC. Select the folder, not the actual media file(s), where the desired media file(s) reside.

  2. Media files within the selected folder will be shown in the Assets pane (b).

  3. Drag and drop items from the Assets pane to the the zone’s Content pane (c).

  4. Select the Save icon (d) to save the presentation to the presentation’s previously defined destination directory.

  5. Select Publish (e).

There is an important distinction between Save and Publish.

Saving the presentation saves any changes to the previously defined destination directory, similar to saving a typical text document or spreadsheet. The saved presentation file (.bpfx file) is not self-contained - it does not contain the various media files (images, videos, etc.). The presentation file is therefore insufficient on its own for display and requires access to the required media files.

When the presentation is published, BrightAuthor:connected gathers all the necessary files (the .bpfx file, images, videos, etc.) and outputs it in a way that the player can read and process.

Generally speaking, you do not want to Save the presentation directly to the microSD card. Rather, you should Publish the presentation to the microSD card.

Selecting Publish will take you to the Schedule tab where you can define schedules to control when the presentation will play. In this example, the presentation will use the default schedule which is to play all day, every day.

Publishing to a Standalone Player

Make sure to erase the microSD card before copying the presentation and media files to it. If the setup files are left on the card, the player may attempt to run the setup process every time it is rebooted and not play the presentation.

  1. For Destination Type, select Local System Storage (a).

  2. Insert a blank microSD card into the computer and select the card as the Destination Local Directory (b).

  3. Select Publish (c). This will publish the presentation to the microSD card. Remove the card from the computer and plug it into the player. The presentation should then play on the display. If the presentation does not play after a few minutes, try rebooting the player.

 

Publishing to a Local Network Player

  1. For Destination Type, select Local Network (a).

  2. The player should appear in the Networked Players list. If not, select the Refresh icon (b). If the player still doesn’t appear, you may have to select the + icon (b) and manually enter the player’s IP address. The IP address will be shown on the “Congratulations, your BrightSign player is set up!” screen.

  3. Select the player(s) to publish to (c).

  4. Select Publish (d). The player may go through an automatic reboot cycle before playing the presentation.

 

Publishing to a Web Folder Player

Web Folder Mapped to Local Directory

  1. For Destination Type, select Web Folder (a). If you have a local directory that’s mapped as a volume to your web URL, select Directory (b) and select the folder icon to navigate to and select that local directory.

  2. Select Publish (c) to publish the presentation to the directory you’ve selected. If set up properly, your SFN configured player should detect new content at the web URL, transfer that content to its microSD card, and play it.

FTP

  1. To transfer files to the web URL via FTP, select FTP Site (a) as the Destination Type.

  2. Select the + icon (b) to enter a new FTP site.

  3. Enter the required info for the FTP site and select Submit (c).

  4. Select Publish (d) to publish the presentation to the specified FTP site. If set up properly, your Web Folder configured player should detect new content at the web URL, transfer that content to its microSD card, and play it.

 

Publishing to BSN.cloud