Introduction

This guide continues from the Engage Ops License Activation Guide. It tells you how to sign in to the Engage Ops console, put your first source on the wall, and arrange sources in the two layouts, Freeform and Grid.

A source is one live picture or sound that goes to the wall: a screen, a window, a browser tab, a camera, or a microphone. The console (Engage Ops Control) is the web page that you use to control what the wall shows.

The procedures in this guide use the + Add Source button in the console. This button shares a source from the same computer that you use to operate the console. To share from other computers, phones, and tablets, see Let other people share.

Before you start

Activate the license. Until you activate the license, the system does not accept sources. The Engage Ops License Activation Guide tells you how.
Know the address of the host computer. The host computer is the computer that runs Engage Ops and drives the wall displays. You need its name or IP address. On the host computer itself, use localhost. While no source is on the wall, the wall shows the address.
Use a current browser. Use Microsoft Edge or Google Chrome on a Windows or macOS computer. Other browsers can work, but can have fewer sharing options.
Know the default password. On a new system, the Control UI password is password.

Open a web browser and go to https://<host>:8443/control/. <host> is the name or the IP address of the host computer. Port 8443 is the default. If an administrator changed the port, use the port that they give you.
If the browser shows a certificate warning, continue to the site. The section Getting past the certificate warning in the Engage Ops License Activation Guide shows the steps.
The sign-in page opens (Figure 1). In the Password field, type password.
Click Sign in. The console opens.

On the host computer, the console signs you in automatically, and the sign-in page does not appear.

Figure 1: The sign-in page of the console. While the system uses the default password, the page shows a reminder below the Sign in button.

Change the default password

The default password is the same on every new system. Until you change it, anyone who can connect to the host computer can operate the wall. Change it before other people use the system.

In the console toolbar, click ⚙ Settings.
Click Control in the left column.
Find Control UI password. Type the current password (password) in Current password.
Type the new password in New password and in Confirm new password, and apply the change.

When you change the password, all other open consoles are signed out. They must sign in again with the new password. Write down the new password: you can change it only from a console that is signed in. On the host computer, the console always signs you in automatically.

The console at a glance

The console has three areas (Figure 2):

The toolbar is across the top. At the left, the Freeform and Grid buttons select the layout of the wall. At the right are Blank Screen, Users, Settings, and other tools.
The canvas is in the center. It is a scaled map of the wall. A tile at the top left of the canvas is at the top left of the wall.
The source list is at the left. It shows every connected source, on the wall or not. The + Add Source button is at the top of the list.

Figure 2: The console. The toolbar is across the top, the source list is at the left, and the canvas is in the center. To put a source on the wall, drag it from the source list onto the canvas.

You can move the source list to the right or to the bottom in Settings → Control → Source list. On a phone, the console shows a different layout that is made for touch.

Add a source

This procedure shares a screen, a window, a browser tab, a camera, or a microphone from the computer where the console is open.

In the source list, click + Add Source. A new browser tab opens with the Engage Ops Source page (Figure 3). Because you opened it from the console, the page shows “Opened from Engage Control — no PIN required.”
In Your name, type your name, for example Alex. The console uses this name to show who shares each source.
Click Continue. The Your sources page opens.
Click the Add source card. The Add Source dialog box opens (Figure 4).
Under Source, select what to share:
- Screen: a complete display.
- Window: one application window.
- Tab: one browser tab.
- Device: a camera or another video input. Select it in Video input.
- Microphone: sound only.
If necessary, change the options:
- Audio: Include system audio sends the sound of the computer with the picture. Mix microphone in adds your microphone.
- Frame rate: 30 fps is the default. Use 60 fps for fast motion, for example video.
- Video codec: keep the default.
Click Add Source.
For a screen, a window, or a tab, the browser asks what to share. Select the screen, the window, or the tab, and click Share. For a camera or a microphone, the browser can ask for permission. Click Allow.
Make sure that the card of the new source shows Live (Figure 5). The source is now connected, and it appears in the source list of the console.

Figure 3: The Engage Ops Source page that + Add Source opens. You type only your name. A PIN is not necessary.

Figure 4: The Add Source dialog box. The options that show depend on the type of source that you select. The codecs in the list depend on the browser and on the wall.

Figure 5: The Your sources page with one live source. To share another source, click the Add source card again.

Keep the source tab open

The source tab sends the picture to the wall. If you close the tab, go to a different page in it, or let the computer sleep, your sources go off the wall. You can move the tab to the background. When you click + Add Source again, the console goes back to the same tab.

To stop a source, click Remove on its card. To share a different screen, window, or camera in the same place on the wall, click Replace.

Put the source on the wall

On a new system, Auto-place new sources is on. A new source then goes on the wall automatically, and you do not have to do anything.

When Auto-place new sources is off, a new source stays in the source list until you place it:

In the console, find the source in the source list.
Drag the source onto the canvas (Figure 2). The source shows on the wall immediately.

On a touch screen, swipe the source card out of the list toward the canvas. You can also touch and hold the card, then drag it. When you can release the card, the canvas shows a blue outline.

To turn automatic placement on or off, go to Settings → Control → Sources and set Auto-place new sources. Turn it off when you want to check each source before it goes on the wall.

How many sources

Each layout can show 9 sources at the same time. Up to 12 sources can be connected. A source that is connected but not placed waits in the source list. If the layout is full, remove a tile before you place a different source.

Freeform and Grid

The wall always uses one of two layouts. To change the layout, click Freeform or Grid at the left of the toolbar. The wall changes immediately.

Each layout keeps its own tiles. When you change from Freeform to Grid, the Freeform arrangement does not change. When you go back to Freeform, the wall shows the same arrangement again. Each layout also keeps its own audio selection (see Tile controls).

Figure 6: The same four sources in the two layouts. In Freeform, the selected tile shows its corner handles. In Grid, a tile can cover more than one cell.

Freeform layout

In Freeform, you put each tile where you want it, at the size that you want.

Place. Drag a source from the source list onto the canvas. The tile goes to the nearest free area, at one quarter of the width of the wall. If there is not sufficient space, the tile is made smaller.
Move. Drag the tile. To cancel a move, press Esc before you release the mouse button.
Resize. Drag a corner handle of the tile. The tile keeps the shape (aspect ratio) of its source, so the picture is never stretched.
Align. While you move or resize a tile, it snaps to the edges and centers of the other tiles and of the canvas.
No overlap. Tiles cannot overlap. A tile stops when it touches a different tile.

Auto-place in Freeform

When Auto-place new sources is on, Engage Ops arranges the Freeform layout for you. Each time a source connects or disconnects, all tiles are arranged again to fill the wall. You can move and resize tiles, but the next arrangement can change them. To keep a tile where it is, click Lock on the tile.

Grid layout

In Grid, the wall is divided into cells of equal size, and each tile fills one or more cells.

Set the grid size. In Grid, Cols and Rows fields appear in the toolbar. Each can be 1 to 8. The default is 4 columns by 4 rows. The wall changes when you change a value.
Place. Drag a source from the source list onto an empty cell. You cannot drop a source on a cell that is in use.
Move. Drag the tile to an empty cell.
Make a tile larger. Drag the corner handle of the tile across more cells. The tile stops at a cell that is in use.

You cannot make the grid smaller than the tiles that are on it. If a tile is in a row or a column that you remove, the console shows “Cannot reduce grid size because one or more streams would be cropped.” Move or remove those tiles first.

When Auto-place new sources is on, a new source goes into the first empty cell. The tiles that are already on the grid do not move.

Tile controls

Move the pointer over a tile on the canvas to show its controls. On a small tile, click ⋯ to show them.

Control	What it does
Mute / Unmute	Selects the source that the room hears. When you unmute one source, all other sources are muted.
Lock	Freeform only. Keeps the position and the size of the tile, so it cannot move by accident.
Permanent (pin)	Keeps the tile on the wall. You must clear the pin before you can remove the tile.
Spotlight	Makes the source fill the wall. Click it again to put all tiles back.
Show name on wall	Shows the name of the source on the wall, so the room can see whose source it is.
Remove	Removes the tile from the canvas. The source stays connected and goes back to the source list.

Let other people share

+ Add Source shares from your own computer. Other people share from their own computers, phones, and tablets with a link and a PIN:

In the console, click ⚙ Settings, then Control.
Under Source sharing, find the Source page address (https://<host>:8443/source/) and the 5-digit Source-client PIN. The PIN also shows at the top of the Settings pane.
Give the address and the PIN to the people who share.

Each person opens the address, types a name and the PIN, and clicks Sign in. Then they add sources as in Add a source. Their sources appear in your source list.

A phone or tablet can share its camera or microphone, but not its screen. To connect fast, point the camera of the phone at the QR code on the wall. For a Windows computer that shares often, you can also install the Engage Ops Windows app. The section From the Windows app in the Engage Ops Manual tells you how.

More help

For more about Engage Ops, for example the Settings, the Capture Devices, the Environments, and the Live View, see the Engage Ops Manual. For help, contact Hiperwall support at support@hiperwall.com, +1-888-520-1760 (toll-free in the US), or +1-949-335-7420 (international).