TrigenticAB
EmpirBusGraphicUser
manual
1.
Introduction....................................................................................................................................2
2.
Prerequisitesandrecommendedsystemrequirements.................................................................2
2.1Software........................................................................................................................................2
2.2Hardware.......................................................................................................................................2
3.
DesigningaNewProject..................................................................................................................2
3.1Planning.........................................................................................................................................2
3.2CreatingaNewProjectFile...........................................................................................................3
4.
BasicDesign.....................................................................................................................................4
4.1Signaltypes....................................................................................................................................4
4.1.1PulseButton...........................................................................................................................4
4.1.2MomentarySwitch.................................................................................................................5
4.1.3RotarySwitch.........................................................................................................................6
4.1.4DimmerControl......................................................................................................................6
4.1.5MultiStateSwitch...................................................................................................................6
4.1.6SignalValue............................................................................................................................6
4.2Images...........................................................................................................................................7
4.3Texts..............................................................................................................................................7
4.4NMEA2000PGNs...........................................................................................................................7
4.5DataItems.....................................................................................................................................7
4.6Ledges............................................................................................................................................7
5UploadingLayouttoMFD.....................................................................................................................7
5.1Preparation....................................................................................................................................7
5.2Installingthelayout.......................................................................................................................8
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1. Introduction
TheEmpirBusGraphicalToolisasoftwarecreatedtodesignandeditlayoutsforRaymarineDigital
Switching(RMDS)onRaymarineMultifunctionDisplays(MFD).Thesoftwareisownedand
maintainedbyTrigenticAB,Sweden.Forlegalnotesandotherdocuments,pleaseseeourhomepage
www.trigentic.com.
2. Prerequisitesandrecommendedsystemrequirements
2.1Software
ThesoftwareisoptimizedforMSWindows7andlater.Itisrecommendedtohaveanimage
manipulatingsoftwareinstalledinordertocreateoreditimagesfortheproject.Freely
downloadablerecommendedopensourcesoftwareisGIMP(www.gimp.org)andInkscape
(www.inkscape.org).
Inordertocreateanewproject,anEmpirBusProject(EBP)fileneedstobeimported.Thisfileis
designedwiththeEmpirBusStudiosoftware.ContactyourEmpirBusdealerifyouneedfurther
assistancewithEBP-files.
TheMFDneedstobeupdatedtoLightHouseII.Visitwww.raymarine.comforupdates.
2.2Hardware
AsidefromaPCthatcanrunMSWindows7,amicroSDcardandamicroSDcardreaderisneededto
installtheprojectfileonanMFD.
3. DesigningaNewProject
Confirmthattheprerequisitesinchapter2aremetbeforecontinuing.
3.1Planning
MFDscomewithdifferentspecificationsandwhendesigningthelayoutonemustkeepinmindthat
therearedifferentaspectratiosandresolutionsondifferentMFDs.
Inadditiontobuttonsandindicators,thelayoutusuallyalsoconsistsofgraphics.Therecommended
fileformatisPNGsincethesoftwareisabletohandletransparency.JPGisalsopossiblebutthenitis
recommendedtouseablackbackgroundinthegraphicsasmostlayoutsuseblackasbackground
color.
ThehighestMFDscreenresolutioniscurrently1280x1024soanyoriginalgraphicsfilewitha
resolutionhigherthanthiscanbeusedforanylayoutwithagoodresult.Thesoftwareisabletoboth
scaleimagesdownandup,butscalingupresultsinapoorimagequality.
ItistechnicallypossibletouploadalayoutdesignedforoneresolutiononaMFDwithanother
resolution.ThelayoutwillberescaledanddraggedtofittheMFDandthelargerdifferenceinaspect
ratiothemoreapparentwillthedistortionbe.Ifbuttonsandtextsaresignificantlyscaleddownit
couldbecomedifficulttousethelayout.Seetable3.1formodelrangeandresolution.
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MFDmodel
Resolution
a6
640x480pixels
a7
800x480pixels
a9
800x480pixels
a12
1280x800pixels
c9
800x480pixels
c12
1280x800pixels
e7
800x480pixels
e9
800x480pixels
e12
1280x800pixels
e16
1280x800pixels
eS7
800x480pixels
eS9
800x480pixels
eS12
1280x800pixels
gS9
800x480pixels
gS12
1280x800pixels
gS16
1280x800pixels
gS19
1280x1024pixels
Table3.1:Modelrange
Aspectratio
4:3
5:3
5:3
5:3
5:3
5:3
5:3
5:3
5:3
5:3
5:3
5:3
5:3
5:3
5:3
5:3
5:4
Themenubordercontainingbuttonsandstatusis50pixelshighandthesmallpagetitleborderis25
pixelshigh.ThismeansthatonaMFDwithresolution1280x800,thelayoutwillwithdefaultsettings
use1280x725.
3.2CreatingaNewProjectFile
GotomenuoptionFile–CreateNewProject
YouwillbepromptedtosaveafilewiththesuggestedfilenameRMDS_.zip.Changethisfilename
toanamerelevanttoyourprojectandsave.Thefilenamemustnotexceed28charactersandmay
containcharactersa-z,A-Z,numericals,.(dot),-,and_.
Example:
RMDS_TMP_GF001_ver_1.3.2.zip
NextstepistoimporttheEBPfile.GotomenuoptionImport–ImportEmpirBusProjectFileand
browsetoandimporttheEBPfile.
Youarenowreadytobegincreatingyoudesign.
NOTE!Thegraphicfilemustnotexceed15Mb(unzipped)
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4. BasicDesign
Object
preview
Signal
list
Signal
alternatives
list
Page
toolbar
Object
title
Object
settings
Object
position
and
scale
4.1Signaltypes
IfanEBPfilewithMFDsignalshasbeenimportedtothesoftware,thesignallistwindowwillbe
populatedwiththeavailablesignals.ThebasicfeaturesofthesignalaredefinedintheEBPfilethat
wasimportedandwillbereflectedinthesignalalternativeslistwindow.
4.1.1PulseButton
Toggle
CircuitBreaker
StatusIndicator
IndicatorImage
ThisalternativeallowsforanimagetobedisplayedwhenthesignalisON.
ModeButton
Acustomorpredefinedbuttonwithpressandrestfeature.
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CustomToggle
Thisallowstouseowndesignedbuttonsbyaddingoneimageforeachstate.
4.1.2MomentarySwitch
Momentary
Klaxxon
ChangeView
CreatesastandardbuttonthatnavigatestoadefinedMFDlayoutpage.
ChangeViewCustom
CreatesacustombuttonthatnavigatestoadefinedMFDlayoutpage.
CustomMometary
Thisallowstouseowndesignedbuttonsbyaddingoneimageforeachstate.
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4.1.3RotarySwitch
(RotarySwitch)
4.1.4DimmerControl
(DimmerControl)
4.1.5MultiStateSwitch
(MultiStateSwitch)
4.1.6SignalValue
SignalValue
Displaysalivenumericalvaluewithorwithoutunits.
Needle
Displaysavaluewitharotatingneedle.Acustomneedleallowsyoutouseanowndesignedneedle
ortorotateanimage.
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4.2Images
ThesoftwarecanhandlePNGandJPG/JPEGandSVGfiles.PNGisrecommendedasitisacompressed
fileformatthatcanhandleimagetransparency.Imagetransparencyisexceptionallyusefulsinceit
allowsimagestoseemasiftheyhadroundorirregularshapes,alsowhenplacedoveranother
image.
4.3Texts
Somesignalscomewithacustomizabletitle.Otherneedstohavetitlesaddedmanually.Textscan
eitherbegeneratedexternallywiththirdpartyimagesoftwareandthenimportedasanimage(see
chapter4.2)orcanbegeneratedandediteddirectlyinthesoftware.
4.4NMEA2000PGNs
InadditiontodisplayinglivevaluesusingSignalValues(seechapter4.1.3),thesoftwarecanalso
handleanalogbatterystatusandfluidlevelindicators.
PGN127508
PGN127505
4.5DataItems
AlldatathatcanbeshownonRaymarinesDatapagearealsopossibletoshowintheDigital
switchinggraphicasanumberoraneedle.
4.6Ledges
Atoolusedtoalignobjects.
5UploadingLayouttoMFD
5.1Preparation
InordertouploadthelayouttotheMFDyouneedtoputthelayoutfileintheroot(top)folderofa
microSDmemorycard.
Example:
F:\RMDS_TMP_GF001_ver_1.3.2.zip
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F\:isinthisexamplethemircroSDmemorycarddriveletter.PleasealsonotethattheMFDwillnot
recognizethelayoutifthecontentisextracted–itmustberemainpackagedintheZIPfile.
5.2Installingthelayout
Beginatthehomescreen.
Graphic5.1:LightHouse2homescreenwithRMDSSwitchPanelicon
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
GotoMFDmenuoptionSet-up–SystemSettings–ExternalDevices–SwitchPanelSet-up
ChoseInstallConfigFile
Ifasked,selectfromthelistthememorycardwherethelayoutfileisstored.
Selectfromthelistthelayoutfiletobeinstalled.Waitforthemessage“Importingcomplete”
toconfirmthatthelayouthasbeensuccessfullyinstalled.
GotoMFDmenuoptionCustomize–Homescreen–DeletePage.
Selectthe“SwitchPanel”iconanditwillberemoved.
GobacktoMFDmenuoptionCustomize–Homescreen–EditPage.
Selectanunusedicon.
ScrolldowninthelistandselectoptionSwitchPanel.Thenscrollbackuptothetopand
selectFinish
Setthetitleoftheicon(defaultis“SwitchPanel”)andselectSAVE
Thelayoutfileisnowinstalledandcanbeaccessedbythedigitalswitchingiconasseenasthe
bottomrighticoncalledSwitchPanelongraphic5.1.
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TrigenticAB
Bultvägen1
SE-45175Uddevalla
Sweden
Support
Phone:+46522-442222
E-mail:[email protected]
Web:www.trigentic.com
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