Docs Documentation
The gesture guide
A drawn hand that shows visitors how to use a screen with their hands — raise, point, pinch, hold still, swipe — laid over the screen while someone is there, until they raise a hand.
A screen that follows a hand has one problem a touch screen does not: nobody knows they may use it, or how. People walk up and touch the glass. The gesture guide shows them. A drawn hand performs the gestures in a loop — raise, point, pinch, hold still, swipe — a little screen answers each one, and a caption says it in German, English and French.
There are two ways to use it:
- One switch on the stage — the screen shows the guide by itself while someone is standing in front of it, and takes it away the moment they raise a hand. Nothing to design.
- The Gesture guide block — for a guide you design: in a corner, as a strip, in your own colours, or as a scene of its own.
Either way it only shows. It never takes the hand itself: the screen hears the visitor whatever is on it (see Overview and detail).
The stage’s own guide over a playing lobby screen, while someone is in front of it.
One switch on the stage
Let visitors use the screen with their hands
On Run → Stages, edit the stage. Under Visitors can use this screen, turn on Let visitors choose things on screen and Hands.
Turn on Show visitors how
Tick Show visitors how — a gesture guide over the screen. It teaches the gestures this screen understands: hold still instead of pinch when a hand chooses by holding still, no swipe when swiping is off.
Let the screen notice people
With Show it on While someone is there, the guide appears for the person who stops in front of the screen. Turn on Notice people in front of the screen for the stage (see People in front of the screen) so it knows. Without that camera it cannot tell, and shows the guide whenever nobody uses the screen — as Whenever nobody uses it does on purpose.
Choose the look and the words
Behind it: the screen blurred under a light tint (the default), a solid background, or nothing. Hand and Colors as on the block. The Title and one caption per gesture are yours to write, each as
Deutsch|English|Français— the first part big, the others small under it. Empty fields say the text shown in grey, such as So geht’s | How it works | Comment ça marche.
What a visitor sees:
- Nobody there — no guide; the screen plays its program clean.
- Someone stops — after the camera’s arrive delay (a second unless you say), the guide fades in over the program.
- They raise a hand — the screen starts listening to them and the guide fades away at once, so nothing covers what they point at.
- They are done — after Back to the story after … seconds the screen returns to its program, and the guide comes back while someone is still there; once they walk on it goes after the camera’s leave delay.
The guide is drawn by the screen itself, over whatever plays: no scene, no layout and no rule to keep in step. It shows on screens that play a stage’s player link in a browser; the Android TV, desktop and Raspberry Pi apps get it in a later version.
The block, for a guide you design
In the shot or layout editor, add a Gesture guide from the blocks. Three ways to lay it out:
- Sequence — one big hand, one gesture after the other, with a 1 · 2 · 3 · 4 indicator. A scene of its own in the loop, or the whole screen as an overlay.
- Row — every gesture side by side, each animating, a numbered caption under each. Good for a strip along the bottom; in a tall box the gestures stack.
- Single — one gesture only: a hint next to a button, such as pinch to choose.
Every screen of a wall shows the same gesture at the same moment, and a reload or a shot change never restarts it: the guide follows the screen's clock.
The row layout: raise, point, pinch, hold still and swipe side by side.
Over the screen until a hand goes up
What the stage switch does, you can also build yourself — in a corner, in your own colours, only on some scenes:
Put the guide in the layout, on top
Open the layout the stage's story uses and add a Gesture guide. Right-click it → Keep on top of shots. Stretch it over the whole canvas, or keep it in a corner.
Blur what is behind it
In the guide's settings, set Behind the guide to Blur: a light tint of the palette's background over a blur of the screen underneath. Pick the palette that suits the screen — Night over a dark program, Light over a bright one. A Title above it is optional.
Show it only while someone waits
Open the block's Rules and add the preset Only while someone is there and nobody uses the screen: hidden while nobody is in front of the screen or a visitor is using it, with a half-second fade. It needs Notice people in front of the screen on the stage; without a camera the guide shows whenever nobody uses the screen. To ignore the camera, use Hide while a visitor uses the screen instead.
Try it
Preview a scene with that layout: set In front in the Time & sensors bar to Someone there, then press Try it — the guide fades away while you are the visitor and comes back when you stop. In the editor itself the guide always shows, so you can design it.
A guide in a corner of the layout, over the program, with the blur behind it.
The rules read A visitor using the screen — a visitor is using it or nobody is using it — and Someone in front of the screen. Any block can use them, not only the guide: a QR code that steps aside, a Touch to explore banner that hides once someone does. A visitor using the screen is a block rule only; a stage cannot switch its story while a visitor holds it.
Settings
- Layout (block) — sequence, row or single. The stage’s guide is always a sequence over the whole screen.
- Gestures, in order — any of raise, point, pinch, hold still and swipe; leave out the ones your screen does not use.
- Seconds per gesture — 1.5 to 20, 3.2 unless you say.
- Title and captions — written
Deutsch|English|Français: the first part big, the others small under it. Empty shows the default, such as Hand heben | Raise your hand | Levez la main. - Hand — Line (an outlined hand), Solid (a silhouette) or Glass (a soft gradient).
- Colors — the shared palettes (Airport, Night, Light, Paper) or your own; the accent paints everything that answers the hand.
- Behind the guide — Background (the palette fills the box), Blur (the screen blurred under a light tint) or Nothing (for a calm background).
- Font, caption size and weight (block) — unset, the caption fits the box.
Where a screen asks for less motion, each gesture is one still frame with arrows that say how the hand moves.
Line, solid and glass, on the Night and the Light palette.
From an agent or the API
Your connected agent knows both ways: ask “Show visitors at the lobby screen how to use their hands.” Over MCP the stage switch is set_stage_interaction with guidance; over the REST API it is PUT /api/v1/stages/{id}/interaction with the same object:
{
"hand": true,
"guidance": {
"enabled": true,
"show": "presence",
"backdrop": "blur",
"palette": "night",
"title": "So geht’s|How it works|Comment ça marche",
"captions": { "pinch": "Finger zusammen|Pinch to choose|Pincez pour choisir" }
}
}The block is add_block with kind: "gesture-guide" in the layout, layer: "over", and this rule:
{
"props": { "layout": "sequence", "backdrop": "blur", "palette": "night" },
"rules": [{
"label": "Someone there, nobody using it", "match": "any", "fade_ms": 500,
"when": [
{ "id": "c1", "sensor": "presence", "op": "not_near", "value": {} },
{ "id": "c2", "sensor": "interaction", "op": "active", "value": {} }
],
"set": { "hidden": true }
}]
}