Can I do the following with ArraySync...

[davidestevens]

hi,
I've looked at the blurb on the site, but I'm not totally clear if what I want to do can be done with ArraySync et al.

This is for a system that I'm in the early stages of designing for a school. It's going to run on either an iMac (first choice) or a Mac Pro. The computer is going to drive 3 projectors.
There are 2 (possibly conflicting) things I want to do - split a single output (e.g. Keynote) across the 3 screens (which I assume ArraySync will do just fine); or have three separate images on each screen. The 3 images would probably be output from a single software programme (Max/MSP/Jitter).
Is this kind of thing doable with ArraySync? And can it run as a multiple screen output from a single computer, or do I need a server (mac mini?) for the 2 side projectors?

thanks

David

[Turboladdade]

Well in Keynote, make sure you set your document so that it's the same size (or at least aspect ratio) of your three screens put together. You can set this as a custom size after creating a new Keynote document. In this example I did 3840x720, which would be three 16:9 monitors next to each other.

After you make your Keynote presentation, you'll have to exported it as a QuickTime movie following this guide. Afterwards, ArraySync will be able to play them across three displays.

Now the question is, how were you planning to attach three displays to an iMac? I don't think that's possible. You could use three Mac minis or two Mac minis (the current Mac mini can drive two monitors) or one Mac Pro to do it... and/or try your luck with some combination of Windows PCs but I wouldn't recommend it.

If you have a Mac that can drive three displays (such as a Mac Pro) then yes you can use just the one computer. But you probably don't, so you'll more than likely need a server and one or more clients.

I don't understand the bit about Max/MSP/Jitter.

[davidestevens]

Ah, so I can't run the keynote presentation in real time. That's a pity. The rest makes sense, thanks.
Max is a programme for creating audio/video applications; I think i can split a video feed or send separate feeds from it, but then I need to get that onto the three projectors. I think, based on your reply, the way to do this would be to combine 3 feeds into one super wide image, and then either export it to QuickTime in order to use ArraySync to present it (assuming that I can't do a live feed via ArraySync) or use a TripleHead2Go to live split. (sorry of this doesn't make total sense - I'm still trying to figure out how to provide what the school's headmaster wants to do).

[Turboladdade]

Yes, ArraySync does not do anything outside of synchronizing pre-rendered QuickTime videos. It's most useful across a network, and can be used to create very large display arrays and also synchronize playback of video across a bunch of iMacs or other devices that aren't compatible with third-party hardware solutions like TripleHead2Go.

TripleHead2Go reports itself to your computer as a single super wide display - so your computer thinks you only have "one" monitor, and then it splits this signal across three displays. Conversely, ArraySync does its synchronizing across three actual displays attached directly to your computer. It can work with 3 or 4 or 6 or 200 (across a network).

You can always download an ArraySync demo and try it out for ten days whenever the time comes to decide what you want to do.

[davidestevens]

Great. Thanks for your help.