Introduction

Lightwing Logo

Open Multimedia UI Composition Engine

 

Build custom digital signs, video walls and 3D touch GUIs for open hardware Fast!

 

Lightwing is a scriptable composition and presentation engine for rapidly deploying custom digital signs, interactive touch-kiosks, 3D GUIs and video walls on low-cost, open hardware from many ARM i.MX6 board vendors.

Lightwing combines animated 3D objects, audio, video, text fonts, touch controls, live RSS feeds and other dynamic data from the web using accessible, free and best-in-class open tools like Notepad++, WinSCP, ffmpeg, and Blender.

Lightwing delivers stunning, high-motion 3D that grabs attention (think game consoles), and dynamic, animated text, audio, video, images, effects and live web content – without the complexity and problems of web browsers, JavaScript, CSS, HTML5, QT or Adobe Flash.

Lightwing runs on both Windows and Linux. Content is developed on Windows, then copied directly to low-cost ARM Linux players over a local network or over the web using WinSCP. WinSCP works like FTP except it’s secure.

Lightwing solves the biggest problem facing the digital signage industry today – the complexity and cost of creating content with proprietary tools. Lightwing’s plain-text scripting is fast and easy because it was designed specifically for building multimedia digital signs and touch GUIs. Plus, Lightwing integrates more types of media including 3D, audio, video, images, text fonts, dynamic web data, multi-touch controls and even multi-panel displays (video walls).

Lightwing directly exploits the full power of the GPU and VPU accelerators on the i.MX6 (the best open ARM processors) through OpenGL ES and a purpose-built open embedded Linux OS, which is open source. This lightweight OS ensures high performance and reliability, low-maintenance and much better security than Windows, Android, QT and browser-based solutions. Pop-ups and malware are simply not possible because there are no components with security vulnerabilities and Lightwing always owns all of the display. Furthermore, periodic software updates are simply unnecessary. Lightwing is better software on better hardware with better support.

Lightwing is available on bootable MicroSD cards for individuals and schools and volume licensing for business partners for deployment world-wide. Let’s disrupt your industry!

 

A Paradigm Shift in UI Content Creation

The big problem facing the digital signage industry today is the complexity and cost of creating digital content. It requires too much technical expertise to make professional looking content with animations. And if your project requires combining several types of multimedia, such as 3D assets, video, images and/or touch controls, the situation is even worse. Prepare to learn how to use several general-purpose browser languages, that are not really designed for deploying digital signs, or proprietary tools that only work with sign players from a single manufacturer.

 

Conventional Multimedia UI Content Creation

 

The conventional approach to interactive multimedia content creation requires using several general-purpose browser languages and tools that impose huge learning curves. Typically, content is created on a workstation and then copied to deployed sign players. A lot of expertise is required of the person authoring the content.

 

Lightwing Paradigm Shift 1

Faster Multimedia UI Content Creation with Lightwing

 

Lightwing is a smarter sign player that natively composites all types of multimedia with one easy to learn, integrated script, designed specifically for building interactive multimedia digital signs, touch-kiosks and video walls. Just copy all of your digital media files to the Lightwing players, along with a script, and Lightwing combines the media as directed by that single script. Shifting to smarter sign players dramatically improves the speed of the entire multimedia content creation and deployment process.

Better Software

  • Native 3D, Images, Audio, Video and Animated Text
  • Built-in Page Transitions, Animations, Fonts and Effects
  • Dynamic Web RSS Feeds and CSV Data
  • Over 100 Image, Video and Font Shader Effects
  • Automatic Content Scaling and Rotation for Display Size
  • Best-in-Class Open Tools – Blender, ffmpeg, WinSCP, etc.
  • High Reliability and No Maintenance Required
  • Highly Secure Remote Access with RSA keys via OpenSSH
  • Touch Swipe, Pinch, Zoom and Rotate Gestures
  • Touch Toggle Buttons and Tracking Controls
  • Yocto Open Embedded Linux – Open Source Platform
  • Highly Portable and Lightweight C++
  • Outperforms Qt and Android

Better Hardware

  • ARM i.MX6 Dual or Quad-Core
  • From Many Open Hardware Board Vendors
  • Vivante GC2000 GPU
  • MPEG4 Video Accelerator VPU
  • 1, 2 or 4 GB DDR3 SDRAM
  • 16 GB Flash SD Card
  • HDMI Display at 1080p
  • Landscape and Portrait Displays
  • Optical S/P DIF and HDMI Audio
  • USB, RS-232 and Gigabit Ethernet
  • Optional Wifi, Bluetooth, POE, High Temp
  • Low Power – 5 Watts Typical
  • No Fans – Silent Operation

Better Support

  • Free Sign Development Kit (SDK) Download
  • Includes Fonts, 3D Animations, Effects, Tools
  • Plus Demos and Tutorials for Windows
  • Comprehensive Online Users Guide
  • Free Expert Technical Support
  • Biannual Software Updates
  • No Subscription Fees

Applications

  • High Motion Digital Signs
  • Custom 3D GUIs
  • Interactive Touch Kiosks
  • Video Walls
  • RSS News Displays
  • IoT Control Panels
  • Automotive HMI

Lightwing scripting makes building custom signs, interactive touch-kiosks and video walls fast and accessible to people with minimum technical experience. Since no browser languages are used, anyone that can edit scripts with NotePad++ can create professional, custom digital signs in just a few hours. And Lightwing’s native 3D compositing makes dynamic content look amazing – like modern game consoles. Play the demonstration sign videos below to see for yourself, then download these demos and see how fast you can create custom multimedia content.

 

Lightwing is Browserless Technology
  • Browserless – No HTML, CSS, JavaScript or Adobe Flash

  • Build Custom Multimedia GUIs Fast!

  • Industry-Leading Performance on ARM Open Hardware

  • Exceptionally Lightweight and Responsive

  • Exceptionally High Reliability and High Security

  • No Updates or Maintenance Needed

  • No Malware Vulnerabilities

  • Better Software!

 

Lightwing Outperforms Qt, Android and Browser Platforms

Lightwing Screen Shots


Demonstration Sign Videos

    To see Lightwing in action, play these videos of demonstration signs which were recorded on a Wandboard Quad i.MX6 player. Most of these demos can also be run live on Windows at 1080p when the Lightwing SDK is installed.

Lightwing Scripting

So what does Lightwing scripting look like? Here is a simple example of nine pages that display background images with animated page transitions and animated text. The jump command at the end forms a continuous loop. With Lightwing, anyone can make compelling, interactive signs and touch-kiosks with simple, open tools, because there is no XML, CSS, JavaScript, HTML5 or Adobe Flash. Just list your images, text, 3D objects, transitions, effects, audio, videos and/or RSS feeds in an intuitive, plain-text script. Test your script on Windows, then deploy it on low-cost Lightwing players!

// Lightwing Hello Worlds Example Script.

page: Mercury      time: 1, 5    image: PlanetMercuryBackground    transition: Fade
    text: OpenSansBold_100     time: 1, 4    fade: 1, 1    position: 50, 50    align: CenterCenter    type: "Hello Mercury!"

page: Venus          time: 1, 5    image: PlanetVenusBackground    transition: ZoomIn
    text: OpenSansBold_100     time: 1, 4    fade: 1, 1    position: 50, 50    align: CenterCenter    type: "Hello Venus!"

page: Earth           time: 1, 5    image: PlanetEarthBackground    transition: SpinIn
    text: OpenSansBold_100     time: 1, 4    fade: 1, 1    position: 50, 50    align: CenterCenter    type: "Hello Earth!"

page: Mars            time: 1, 5    image: PlanetMarsBackground    transition: Disk
    text: OpenSansBold_100     time: 1, 4    fade: 1, 1    position: 50, 50    align: CenterCenter    type: "Hello Mars!"

page: Jupiter         time: 1, 5    image: PlanetJupiterBackground    transition: Radar
    text: OpenSansBold_100     time: 1, 4    fade: 1, 1    position: 50, 50    align: CenterCenter    type: "Hello Jupiter!"

page: Saturn         time: 1, 5    image: PlanetSaturnBackground    transition: Burst
    text: OpenSansBold_100     time: 1, 4    fade: 1, 1    position: 50, 50    align: CenterCenter    type: "Hello Saturn!"

page: Uranus        time: 1, 5    image: PlanetUranusBackground    transition: Twist
    text: OpenSansBold_100     time: 1, 4    fade: 1, 1    position: 50, 50    align: CenterCenter    type: "Hello Uranus!"

page: Neptune     time: 1, 5    image: PlanetNeptuneBackground    transition: Curl
    text: OpenSansBold_100     time: 1, 4    fade: 1, 1    position: 50, 50    align: CenterCenter    type: "Hello Neptune!"

page: Pluto           time: 1, 5    image: PlanetPlutoCharonBackground    transition: Carousel
    text: OpenSansBold_100     time: 1, 4    fade: 1, 1    position: 50, 50    align: CenterCenter    type: "Hello Pluto!"

    jump: Mercury

Lightwing Scripting is Fast and Powerful

To see more Lightwing scripting examples, visit the Scripting Tutorial, or download and install the Lightwing SDK and run them for yourself on Windows.


Lightwing SDK for Windows Download

Download the Free Lightwing Sign Development Kit for Windows to get started now! It includes everything needed to create and play digital sign and touch-kiosk content on Windows, including demos, tutorials, fonts, effects, animations and more. This package also includes several recommended open-tools for creating and deploying digital signs, including WinFF, ffmpeg, PVRTexTool, WinSCP, PuTTY and NotePad++. These tools are optional and can be chosen or unchosen during the install.

This is a professional installer which includes a comprehensive uninstaller so it can easily be removed at any time. There is absolutely NO malware of any kind on Montgomery One – Ever.

Lightwing SDK for Windows Download

Version 1.2
Size: 210 MB
Released: June 12, 2018
MD5 Checksum: 0b57d8131377dcaabf9ffc494460d3c1

The Windows version of Lightwing is for developing and previewing content on Windows before deploying to Lightwing Linux players. The Windows version lacks some features including audio, video and automatic content updating. To deploy your content, purchase recommended i.MX6 hardware with Lightwing either pre-installed or on a bootable SD card. Lightwing is licensed per i.MX6 player with no subscription fees and no expiration. Free expert technical support is provided via the forum below.

Lightwing is still in active development and new features are coming soon, including support for multi-panel displays (video walls), social media, IoT, home and conference room automation control. Licensed users receive free updates via ZIP download. Stay tuned!


Lightwing Compatible Hardware

The Wandboard and Advantech Sign Players for Lightwing

The WandBoard Quad and the SolidRun Boards are Recommended for Lightwing

 

Lightwing runs on the amazing ARM i.MX6, which is a highly-integrated, low-cost and modern processor with an ideal feature set for digital signage and touch-kiosks. It’s available from multiple board vendors featuring up to 8 processor cores, including 2 or 4 ARM Cortex A9 and dedicated 3D graphics and video accelerators and mounted in different types of enclosures. Either dual or quad-core versions of the i.MX6 are required because they have the better Vivante GC2000 GPU, with at least 1GB of DDR3 memory. Beware that some dual-core i.MX6 hardware (such as the Wandboard Dual) have a DualLite core, which must be avoided because the GPU is inadequate for Lightwing.

Plastic enclosures are typically so lightweight they can mount to the back of display panels with Velcro hook and loop tape. Metal enclosures may require mounting hardware, but can be used in higher temperature environments.

The Wandboard Quad and the SolidRun HummingBoard are currently recommended as the best hardware for evaluation and deployment of Lightwing. These are available directly from their manufacturers. Several other hardware options are coming soon with a wide range of different features. Boards which feature 2GB of DDR3 can hold more images resident without flash access latency. But, since Lightwing is so efficient, even just 1GB DDR3 is sufficient for most digital signage applications.

The following chart summarizes the best i.MX6 hardware options for comparison. All of these boards have similar power requirements of about 5 Watts (typical) with no cooling fans. Some feature battery-backed Real Time Clocks (RTC) and built-in flash memory. An RTC is not required if an internet connection is available, because Lightwing automatically retrieves time information from the web via NTP. The costs shown here are provided for hardware comparison only and do not include power supplies, cables or software.

 

Comparison of ARM i.MX6 Hardware Options for Lightwing

Vendors/Model Numbers                     Pros                                                                Cons                         Enclosures         Costs

Wandboard Quad (Not Dual)                  2GB DDR3, Wifi standard                           No RTC, 5 VDC         Plastic                    $140
Advantech UBC-DS31CD-MDA1E           VESA Mount, Wifi option                             1GB DDR3, Dual     Plastic                    $228
Advantech UBC-200CQ                            2GB DDR3, High Temp, Wifi option                                             Sheet Metal          $312
Arduino UDOO Quad (Not Dual)            GPIOs, Wifi and other options                   1GB DDR3                None                      $135
Boundary Devices Nitrogen6X              2GB DDR3, Wifi, POE and High Temp                                         Sheet Metal          $275
Boundary Devices Nitrogen6X_MAX    4GB DDR3, Wifi and POE options                                                Sheet Metal          $300
Gateworks Ventana GW-5104                GPS, Wifi, and POE options                        1GB DDR3                Aluminum            $450
VIA Embedded AMOS-820                       GPIOs, Wifi and POE, High Temp               1GB DDR3                Aluminum            $365
SolidRun CuBox-i4Pro                              2GB DDR3, Wifi                                                                               Plastic                   $140
SolidRun HummingBoard                       2GB DDR3, Wifi standard                                                              Aluminum            $175
TechNexion TEK3-IMX6                           1-4GB DDR3, Wifi and POE options                                             Aluminum
Embest MarS Board                                                                                                         1GB DDR3, Dual, No RTC, 5 VDC         $269

 

 

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