User Manual

Macro Pages
Editing and Assembling Elements
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If you use templates and a modification is necessary, you only have to change the template to
apply the changes to all controls that use the template.
Furthermore, templates can be saved in libraries, which means that you can build your own
control template library and use controls from there in your projects.
Using templates is a very powerful way to create sophisticated interfaces that still allow for
quick changes of the overall look, simply by modifying a few templates.
There is no hard and fast rule when it comes to deciding when to create a template and
when to use the controls directly on the macro page, but for big projects or projects that are
similar in style and/or share a lot of their content, creating templates can save a lot of time
and keep a lot of flexibility until a very late stage in your work.
Creating Templates
You can create a template from scratch by adding a new empty template to the Templates
Tree and then assembling and configuring its elements. In addition, you must specify which
control values you want to export to the template. Exported properties become template
parameters and can then be connected to HALion engine parameters.
PREREQUISITE
You have created or loaded a macro page in the Macro Page Designer.
PROCEDURE
1. Right-click the Templates Tree and select Create> Template.
This creates a new empty template.
2. Enter a name for the template and click Edit Element on the toolbar.
3. Specify the size for the template by dragging the borders of the rectangle on the
canvas.
4. Right-click the GUI Tree and select Create> Knob.
5. In the Properties section for the knob element, assign a bitmap to it by dragging it
from the Resource/Library Browser onto the Bitmap field.
6. Right-click the GUI Tree and select Create> Text.
7. Right-click the Resources Tree and select Create> Font.
8. Set up the font in the Properties section.
9. In the Properties section for the Text element, select the font that you have set up.
10. Arrange the knob and the text controls on the canvas.
11. Select the knob control and activate the Export Property button for the Value
parameter.
12. Do the same for the text control.
13. In the Properties section for the template, enter the same name for the two created
template parameters, for example Value. This way, they appear as a single template
parameter when you use the template on the macro page.
14. When you are done setting up your template, click Switch Back to Macro Page/Parent
Template in the top right corner of the GUI Tree.