Message Editor for outdoor LED displays
The ooh!Media Message Editor composes messages on a layered timeline: a background, overlay text, scrolling text, and live data sources such as date, time, temperature, counters and RSS feeds. Each message previews on-screen before it goes to the display.
How does the Message Editor structure a message?
Every message in ooh!Media is built from three layers. The background layer holds a solid color, an image, or an animation from the Media Library. The overlay text layer sits directly on top of the background and stays in place. The frame-sequence layer holds text that scrolls, fades or holds across frames. Operators stack these three layers on a single timeline and decide for each frame what should be visible.
The layered approach matches how outdoor LED message displays render content at the pixel level: an unchanging visual base, a fixed informational label, and a motion element that catches the eye. By separating the three concerns, the editor lets one operator update only the scrolling text while the background stays untouched — useful for sites where the message changes daily but the brand frame does not.
What live data can the Message Editor put on screen?
Five built-in field types update without operator intervention. Date and time refresh every second. Temperature reads from a configured source. Count-up and count-down counters increment automatically for elapsed time, deadlines or production tallies. RSS Ticker scrolls a full feed of headlines across the display. RSS Variable extracts one specific item from a feed — typically used for weather warnings, traffic alerts or KPI dashboards.
Each live field is drag-and-drop. An operator drops the field onto a layer, chooses font, color and animation, and the field renders the current value at every refresh cycle. Counters retain their state across power cycles on the display.
Can the editor split the display into multiple zones?
Multiple text boxes can occupy different areas of the display simultaneously. A common layout for industrial sites puts a safety message on the left half and a real-time counter on the right half. A retail layout shows brand graphics on one side and a scrolling promo on the other. Each zone has its own timeline and its own text properties.
Multi-zone layouts work on every Adaptive Alpha-protocol display the editor supports — from compact 220C models to large 9000-series panels. The editor reads the display's pixel resolution at design time and lets operators position zones with pixel-precision.
How does the timeline handle animations and transparent text?
Animations live on the background layer or as transparent text effects. Operators choose from animated images in the Media Library (sorted by display size) or import their own animations. The transparent text effect shows an image or animation inside the letters of the message — letters appear to be cut out of moving content, a visual signature that distinguishes ooh!Media-driven displays in the field.
Does on-screen preview show what the LED display will actually show?
The preview emulates the target display at its actual pixel-pitch and aspect-ratio. If the display is a 4 mm pitch panel at 384×64 pixels, the preview reflects exactly that grid. Scroll-speed, timing and color appear as they will on the outdoor LED — without sending the message to the device. This eliminates the round-trip between content edits and field-walk verification.
How does the Message Editor connect to the Scheduler?
Messages composed in the editor are saved to the message library. The Scheduler picks messages from that library and assigns them to playback slots — by hour, day, week, month or year. The two modules share the same database, so a message edited in the Message Editor immediately reflects in every schedule that references it. Operators never duplicate content between editing and scheduling.
Frequently asked questions
What hardware does the Message Editor target?
The editor outputs to outdoor LED message displays running the Adaptive Micro Systems Alpha protocol — including Alpha 220 series, 300 series, 400 series and 9000 series panels. Compatible with bundled Daylight bv installations and standalone Adaptive deployments.
Can multiple operators edit messages simultaneously?
The Windows application is single-workstation. Multiple operators can use separate workstations against a shared message library on a network drive. Each operator has a customizable workspace per user profile.
Does the editor support multi-language messages?
Yes. Text fields accept Unicode. Operators schedule different language variants on different days or hours, or rotate them within a single message via the frame-sequence layer.
Are messages portable between displays of different sizes?
Layouts auto-scale, but pixel-perfect typography may need adjustment when migrating between displays of significantly different resolutions. The Media Library sorts assets by display size to make this transparent.
What backup options does the editor offer?
Messages and schedules are file-based — they save, open and reopen as standalone documents. Backup is a copy of the workstation's message folder. No cloud dependency.