Layout Designer

Layout Designer is the visual editor for creating custom multiviewer layouts.

Opening Layout Designer

Menu → File → Layout Designer

A separate window opens with a blank 16:9 canvas and toolbar. This is your design workspace.

The Designer Interface

Top Toolbar:

The toolbar contains all your design controls in logical groups:

• File Operations: New, Load, Save, Save As (for managing layout files)
• Size Presets: Full, Half, Third, Quarter, Eighth, Sixteenth (quick viewer sizing)
• Grid Controls: 1% Grid, 5% Grid, Show Grid Toggle (alignment assistance)
• Widget Palette: Add Clock, Add Date+Time Clock, Add Studio Clock (time display widgets)
• Snap Options: Snap to Grid, Snap to Viewers, Enable All Snapping (alignment modes)

Canvas Area:

The centre shows your 16:9 design canvas. This represents the final multiviewer output.

Viewers appear as numbered rectangles that you can drag, resize, and position. Clocks appear as letter-identified widgets (A, B, C, etc.). The canvas background shows grid lines when enabled.

Viewer/Widget Properties:

Selected elements show resize handles at corners and edges. Drag handles to resize while maintaining aspect ratio (for viewers) or adjust size freely (for clocks).

Creating a Custom Layout

Starting from Scratch:

1. Click a size preset (like “Quarter”)
2. Click on the canvas where you want the viewer
3. A new viewer appears at that position
4. Repeat to add more viewers
5. Adjust positions by dragging viewers around
6. Fine-tune sizing by dragging resize handles

Adding Clocks:

1. Click “Add Clock” (or Date+Time Clock, Studio Clock)
2. Click where you want the clock
3. A clock widget appears with default dimensions
4. Resize and position as needed

Clocks are identified by letters (A, B, C, …) while NDI® viewers use numbers (1, 2, 3, …).

Smart Positioning Features

Grid Snapping:

When enabled (1% or 5% grid), viewers and clocks snap to grid intersections as you drag. This ensures pixel-perfect alignment and consistent spacing.

1% grid gives fine control, 5% grid gives coarser but faster positioning.

Toggle “Show Grid” to see the grid lines overlay on the canvas.

Viewer Snapping:

When enabled, viewers snap to the edges of other viewers as you drag them. This makes it easy to create seamless grids without gaps.

Snap works for:

• Viewer edges aligning with other viewer edges
• Viewers snapping to multiples of another viewer’s size (e.g., half-width snaps perfectly)
• Canvas edges (snapping to screen borders)

Center Snapping:

When dragging, if a viewer gets close to the horizontal or vertical center of the canvas, it snaps to center automatically. Visual guides appear showing the center alignment.

Smart Auto-Placement:

When you add a new viewer with a size preset, Laika automatically places it:

• First viewer: fills the canvas at the selected size
• Subsequent viewers: placed to the right of the previous viewer
• When reaching the right edge: wraps to the next row
• Sizes automatically fill space intelligently

This means you can rapidly create grids by clicking “Quarter” eight times and getting a perfect 2x4 layout without manual positioning.

Editing Viewers and Clocks

Moving:

Click and drag any viewer or clock to reposition. Snapping modes apply while dragging.

Resizing:

Click to select, then drag corner handles to resize. Viewers maintain 16:9 aspect ratio automatically. Clocks resize freely.

Deleting:

Select the viewer or clock, then click the ”🗑 Delete Viewer” button in the toolbar (or press Backspace/Delete key).

Selection:

Click a viewer or clock to select it (shows resize handles). Click empty canvas to deselect.

Managing Multiple Elements

Aligning Elements:

Use grid snapping and viewer snapping together for rapid alignment. Enable 5% grid for quick rough layouts, then switch to 1% grid for fine positioning.

Consistent Sizing:

Select a viewer, note its width/height in the properties panel, then match other viewers manually. Or use size presets to ensure exact matching (e.g., all “Quarter” viewers are precisely the same size).

Visual Hierarchy:

Place critical viewers (Program, Preview) larger and in upper-left positions. Secondary monitors can be smaller and lower/right positioned.

Clock Widgets

Laika supports three clock types:

• Clock (Time only): Shows current time in HH:MM:SS format
• Clock (Date+Time): Shows date and time with full timestamp
• Studio Clock: Gallery studio clock

Clocks update in real-time and are rendered at high quality. They’re useful for:

• Monitoring current time during live production
• Tracking show runtime
• Providing timestamp reference on recordings

Clock appearance is configurable via JSON (font size, colors) — check assets/default-layouts.json for clock configuration options.

Saving Custom Layouts

Save:

Click “Save” in the toolbar. If this is a new layout, you’ll be prompted for a name.

Save As:

Click “Save As” to save a copy with a new name. Useful for creating variations of existing layouts.

Where layouts are saved:

Windows: C:\Users\<Username>\AppData\Roaming\FetchMediaTools\Laika\layouts\
macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/FetchMediaTools/Laika/layouts/
Linux: ~/.config/FetchMediaTools/Laika/layouts/

Layout files are JSON format and human-readable. You can export and share them with colleagues or back them up for facility documentation.

Loading Existing Layouts for Editing

Menu → File → Load Layout

Select an existing custom layout to edit it. Built-in layouts are not editable (they’re protected templates).

Make your changes, then Save or Save As with a new name.

Testing Your Layout

Switch to the main Laika application and select your custom layout from the Layout menu. Viewers should appear in the positions and sizes you designed. Assign sources to verify the layout works operationally before deploying it for production use.

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