Live View is the main operator canvas in Virtual.ink. It is where you frame the camera feed, paint live, start capture, preview recent output, and open the right-side tools without leaving the canvas.

This is a native desktop surface, not a standalone browser page.

What you see

The main surface shows the live camera feed with the light-painting render composited on top.

When no camera is selected, Live View shows a no-signal state. If you change the camera, codec, frame rate, or resolution, the feed can briefly drop into a transition state while the source reloads.

Bottom dock

The floating dock gives quick access to the main live actions:

The dock also shows the current resolution and target versus live frame rate. During recording, a timer appears above it.

Right-side rail

The rail on the right opens the desktop-only side panels:

• Live Setup for camera input, capture behavior, replay sizing, thumbnails, and file options.
• Effects for live image processing.
• Debug for diagnostics.
• The home badge returns to the dashboard.

Only one right-side panel stays open at a time.

Inline replay

After capture finishes, Live View can keep the most recent saved result visible in the corner.

• None disables replay.
• Small, Medium, and Large keep the latest replay visible in the corner stack.

When replay is active, the latest playable dataset opens automatically, loops muted, and can be dismissed or expanded.

Fullscreen replay overlay

Opening the replay expands it above the live canvas.

The overlay can show:

• the replayed media
• sharing actions such as email or QR
• media actions such as rating, delete, or archive
• basic dataset details such as resolution and timestamp

Useful keyboard behavior:

• Escape closes fullscreen replay.
• Left Arrow and Right Arrow move to the previous or next playable dataset.
• Delete archives the current replayed dataset and advances.

Camera 2 picture-in-picture

When Camera 2 is enabled and set to BTS, Live View shows the second feed in the same corner area used by inline replay.

• The picture-in-picture size follows the same replay size setting.
• Camera 2 can be flipped together with Camera 1 or configured independently.
• This is useful for a behind-the-scenes or ambient angle while the main camera stays focused on the light painting.

Countdown and debug overlays

Timed actions can show a large countdown before capture begins. During capture, the live timer switches into recording mode and shows the remaining time when the action is timed.

Press D to toggle the debug overlay. Use it when you need requested versus actual resolution, input and render frame rates, device capability details, GPU mode, or Camera 2 diagnostics.

Display fit

Two fit modes are available from Live Setup: