Looks

A look is a saved, named answer to "which layers reach which outputs", so you can change every screen at once, by hand or from a slide. For example, "Worship" might send everything everywhere, while "Sermon" keeps the lyrics off the live stream feed and shows only the countdown on stage. A look is not a theme: a theme dresses a slide, a look decides which layers each output gets.

Where to find it

Open Present, click Settings in the top bar, then Looks (the palette icon, under Output). It works the same in the web app and in Tech Manager.

Read the Looks grid

In Present > Settings > Looks, the grid has one column per output, named as on the Outputs tab, and one row per layer: Audio, Overlays, Timer, Slide, Background and Live video (a camera or live input), top of the picture first. Below them is the Alt theme row.

• A check means that layer reaches that output. Click a cell to switch it.
• These are the same switches as the layer icons on each output's row in Outputs; change one and the other changes too.
• They set where a layer goes. They never clear what is live. The layer icons under the preview are different: there a lit icon means the layer is on screen now, and clicking it clears it.

Save the current setup as a look

1. In Present, click Settings, then Looks.
2. Set the checks the way you want every output to be.
3. Click + Save current.
4. Type a name, such as "Sermon", and confirm. The look appears as a button above the grid.

A look remembers the layers of every output that exists when you save it. It does not save alt themes or sound.

Switch to a look by hand

1. In Present, click Settings, then Looks.
2. Click the look's button above the grid. Every output the look names gets its layers.

The button of the look that every output matches right now is highlighted; its tooltip says "Every screen already matches" followed by the look's name.

Switch looks from a slide

1. In Present, right-click the slide where the change should happen.
2. Choose Add action….
3. Click + action.
4. In the new row, change the type to "Switch look" (listed under Presentation).
5. Pick the look in the next box.
6. Close the window. When the slide goes live, the look is applied.

A slide's actions run in order when it goes live. A playlist item's right-click menu has Add action… too. To change or remove the cue later, right-click the slide and use Edit action or Remove action.

Give an output an alt theme

An alt theme re-dresses the live slide for one audience output, for example a lower-third version of the lyrics for the live stream, while the room keeps the full slide.

1. In Present, click Settings, then Looks.
2. In the Alt theme row, click the palette button under the output.
3. Point to a theme group and click a variation.
4. To remove it, choose No alt theme.

The variation's name shows under the button. Stage outputs have a stage layout button in that row instead: Follow the live stage layout, or one layout for that monitor.

Set the slide transition

1. In Present, click Settings, then Looks.
2. Under the grid, set Transition to Cut or Crossfade.
3. For a crossfade, drag the slider to set its length in seconds.

This is the same church-wide transition as the control under the slide grid.

Rename, reorder or delete a look

In Present > Settings > Looks, the Manage list under the grid has each look with Rename and Delete. Drag the grip to change the order of the buttons, or click the grip and press Alt+Up or Alt+Down.

Troubleshooting

A slide should have switched looks but nothing changed

The look it names may have been deleted; a cue for a deleted look does nothing, so the screens never blank by surprise. Right-click the slide, choose Edit action, and pick a look that exists.

An output I added later is not changed by a look

A look only changes the outputs that existed when it was saved. Set the grid, click + Save current to save a new look, point the slide actions at it, and delete the old one.

Applying a look did not change the sound or the alt theme

Sound and alt theme belong to each output, not to a look. Change them in the Audio and Alt theme rows, or on the output's row in Outputs.

An output has no Audio check box

That output is a web link. Hover the empty cell: "Web view outputs carry no sound yet."

No look button is highlighted

A look is highlighted only when every output it names matches it exactly. One changed cell is enough to clear the highlight; click the look to apply it again.

Good to know

• Looks belong to the church. In a room, a note at the top says whether that room uses the church's Looks or its own; a change made in a room stays in that room.
• Looks were called Modes for a while; it is the same feature.
• To route layers for one output only, you can also open its row in Present > Settings > Outputs.