Smart Panel is a web-based tool for building and operating custom panels that drive Viz Mosart. It is aimed at operators, technical directors, producers and presenters who want a tailored control surface for their show: the buttons, faders, timers and previews they need, arranged the way they want, on any device with a browser.
Why Smart Panel
Live control rooms have always relied on hardware panels: dedicated boxes of buttons and faders wired to the automation system. They work, but every change to the show means a hardware change, every new operator means a new physical workstation, and every studio ends up with a different layout that lives only in someone's head.
Smart Panel takes the opposite approach. Panels are designed in the browser and opened on any screen: a touch monitor in the gallery, a tablet at the presenter's desk, a laptop in a remote control room. An operator can drop in a take button, a story countdown, a live preview and an audio fader, arrange them, and have a working panel in minutes.
Smart Panel is also designed to feel like the operator's own surface. Each panel has its own name, aspect ratio and visual identity, so the same Viz Mosart system can host a presenter panel, a director panel and an audio panel side by side without confusion. The aim is a control surface that is quick to build, easy to share, and pleasant to use on air.
Info: Smart Panel does not replace Viz Mosart itself. It is a configurable front-end for Viz Mosart's automation, timing and audio commands.
Where Smart Panel Fits
Smart Panel is one of the Viz Mosart Web Apps, a suite of browser tools served by a single backend that ships with every Viz Mosart installation. The other apps in the suite include the Rundown Viewer, Showmaker, the NRCS Plugin, the Prompter, the Named Overlays Editor, the Template Editor and the Configuration Tool. They share a host and a single sign-in, so once you reach one of them you can move between the others without signing in again.
Within the suite, Smart Panel plays the role a hardware control panel would play in a traditional setup: it sends automation commands to Viz Mosart and shows live state back to the operator.
Component | Role for Smart Panel | Required? |
|---|---|---|
Viz Mosart Server | Receives Smart Panel's commands (take, cue, transition, audio, and so on) and streams back live timing, rundown and device state. | Yes |
Mosart Web Apps Configuration Tool | The one-off setup that points Smart Panel at the Viz Mosart server or servers, and registers the optional integrations described below. See Setup and Administration of Smart Panel. | Yes (once) |
Mosart Web Apps server | Hosts all the web apps (sign-in, navigation, shared help), stores Smart Panel panels and uploaded images, and does the work for features the browser cannot do alone, such as receiving NDI video. | Yes (bundled) |
Mosart Web Proxy | The reverse proxy that routes browser traffic to the right backend, either the web apps or the Viz Mosart server. | Yes (bundled or external) |
Smart Panel uses the Mosart Web Apps server for storage, while live data and command execution go to the Viz Mosart server. If Viz Mosart is offline the panel still opens, showing placeholder values, so panels can be designed without a live show on air.
Optional integrations
Some panel features reach beyond Viz Mosart. Each is registered once in the Configuration Tool and then becomes available to every panel on the system. Set up only the ones you need.
TriCaster: makes the studio's TriCaster inputs and outputs available as live preview sources, and lets a button take a TriCaster macro.
Media Sequencer: lets a button take an MSE graphic, and lets an Asset List read its content from a Media Sequencer playlist or show.
Viz Arc: lets a button run a Viz Arc action.
Info: NDI needs no entry in the Configuration Tool. The Mosart Web Apps server discovers NDI sources on the network itself and can also publish a finished panel back out as an NDI source. Both directions require the NDI Runtime on the Mosart Web Apps host. Earlier releases used a separate Viz Coder service for this; that is no longer the case, and Coder does not need to be installed.
Key Features
Panel editor: design panels on a configurable grid, with an item palette, a properties pane and a per-panel aspect ratio. Ready-made preset panels give you a starting point instead of an empty canvas.
A wide item library: buttons, two-state toggles, timers, labels, static text and images, live video, audio faders, and widgets for the timeline, story script, current and next item type, connection status, device statuses, audio toggles, video transition, the prompter, asset lists, and embedded web pages.
Live integration with Viz Mosart: buttons trigger automation commands, from template takes and timeline control to audio, overlays and transitions, while timers, labels and indicators update in real time.
Beyond Viz Mosart: buttons can also drive a TriCaster, a Media Sequencer or Viz Arc, so one surface can cover more than the automation system.
Live video in and out: show NDI, TriCaster, streamed or file-based video inside a panel, and publish the panel itself as an NDI source for a video device or mixer.
Multiple panels: build separate panels for different roles, such as director, audio and presenter, and open the right one per device.
Browser-based and device-agnostic: runs in any modern browser, on touch screens and standard monitors, tablets and laptops.
Edit and display modes: design a panel in the editor, then open it in display mode on the operator's screen to run it on air.
Roles: where authentication is enabled, panel authors and panel users can be separated, so operators can run panels without being able to change them.
Typical Workflow
Open Smart Panel and create a panel, either blank or from a preset, giving it a name and an aspect ratio.
Place items from the palette onto the grid and configure each one: its text, command, source and colors.
Save the panel.
Open it in display mode on the operator's screen and use it to drive Viz Mosart on air.
For the step-by-step version, see Get Started. For the full reference, see Working with Smart Panel.