Create a Display

Last updated 7 August 2026

A Display represents a screen that shows content directly — an LED wall, a monitor, a video wall. Content on it is addressed in pixels, and no projector is involved, which makes it the simplest object you can put in a scene and the quickest route to something on screen.

Display or projection? A Display is simplest: a resolution, and warping adjusted by eye if you need it. A projection — a surface with projectors — costs more setup, but the geometry is computed from the room rather than corrected by hand.

Both can drive a single projector, even onto a curved screen. Prefer a projection when a second projector will cover the same screen, when you want camera-based calibration, or when the scene should describe the installation — a projector aimed at a surface tells the next person what the room looks like; a hand-warped display tells them nothing.

See What is the difference between a Display and a Surface?.

Before you start

  • A project is open — a new project already contains a scene group, so there is nothing to create first
  • You know the real screen's size in metres, or at least its width-to-height ratio

Steps

1. Add the display

In Scene Objects, click + (Add scene object), hover Display, and choose the shape that matches the screen — Flat for an ordinary flat screen. You can open the same menu by right-clicking in the Scene View.

2. Set its size

The size fields are part of that menu — they open beside the shape you picked, not in the Inspector afterwards. Enter the display's Size as width and height in metres, then click Create.

The scene is built to scale, so real metres are what let the display sit correctly in the room. But for getting content to land correctly, what matters is the ratio between them, not the numbers themselves. The next section is why.

Pixels are a separate setting. A display takes its pixel resolution from the output it is routed to. To set it by hand instead — for anything pixel-exact, such as splitting the display across several processors or driving an LED wall — turn off Apply Physical Output Resolution under Resolution in the Inspector and enter the width and height there.

You can still adjust Size later under Display Properties in the Inspector.

3. Place it in the scene

Position and rotate the display under Transformation so the scene resembles the room.

For a single display this changes nothing about the output — but the scene is also what the next person reads. Someone who did not build the installation should be able to open the project and see what it is. That is worth a minute of placement.

4. Route it to an output

A display produces no signal until it is connected to a physical output.

Route Projectors and Displays to Outputs (Video Routing)

Done when: the display appears in Scene Objects and as its own row in the Video Routing matrix. Assign a test image as its Default Asset and it shows in the Scene View — proof the object works before any content or hardware is involved.

Why the aspect ratio is the part that matters

Every visual asset carries its own aspect ratio. When that does not match the display's, Backstage has to decide what to do — and by default it letterboxes: the content is scaled to fit entirely, leaving bars on two sides.

There are three fit modes, set per asset:

Fit mode

What it does

Letterbox

Scales the content until it fits entirely. Nothing is lost; bars appear on two sides. The default.

Crop

Fills the display completely and cuts off whatever does not fit.

Stretch

Distorts the content to fill the display exactly. Use only deliberately.

An asset that has not been given a mode follows the server-wide default, which ships as Letterbox and can be changed in Settings.

The practical consequence: get the display's ratio right and correctly-made content lands correctly with no further work. If you see bars you did not expect, the ratio is wrong — the size is not.

Common Mistakes

  • Unexpected black bars — the display's aspect ratio does not match the content's, so the default Letterbox mode is fitting it. Correct the display's width-to-height ratio, or set that asset's fit mode deliberately.

  • Content looks squashed or stretched — the asset's fit mode is Stretch. Letterbox or Crop preserve the proportions.

  • Content is cut off at the edges — the fit mode is Crop, which fills the display and discards the overflow.

  • Nothing appears on the physical screen — the display has not been routed to an output. The scene can look perfectly correct while the matrix is empty.

  • A second projector has to cover the same screen — blending needs projectors, and a display cannot be extended into one. Rebuild as a surface with projectors, which is why a projection is worth choosing up front on anything that might grow.

  • You wanted camera-based calibration — CalibratorLite and Calibrator generate warp meshes and projector frustums. Neither applies to a display, which is corrected by hand.

Going further

A display can be split — as a matrix of views with bezel correction, into named custom regions, or as a "snake" pixel map for ticker-style LED strips — and it carries its own UV mappings. Both are in the Split & Rasterization and Mapping sections of the Inspector, and on the reference page:

Display

Create an Additional Mapping on a Display