prism docs · Looks · Images, video, songs and text

Images, video and text

Put your own pictures and videos on surfaces, or write words on them. Pictures and videos go into the library once and can then be used anywhere, as often as you like. Ordinary imports stay in this browser. Requested AI operations can send an applicable starting image; see Your data and AI.

WhereThe library ▸ Add images, videos or songs, and the Media & text looks

PicturesPNG, JPEG or WebP, up to 25 MB

VideosMP4 or WebM (anything your browser plays), up to 1 GB

ModeSimple everything; Position & fit shows Fit and Scale first
Advanced all placement settings at once

1 · Add pictures and videos 2 · Put one on a surface 3 · Position and fit 4 · Pictures: the Image look 5 · Videos: the Video look 6 · Text 7 · Delete a file 8 · Hints and tips 9 · When something looks wrong 10 · Mouse and keyboard

1Add pictures and videos

Select a surface and open the library from its look (see Open the library).
Click Add images, videos or songs (the + next to the search box), or Add files when the library has none yet, and choose your files. You can pick several at once.
Or drag the files from your desktop and drop them anywhere on the library: it says Drop to add to your library.
They appear under Images and Videos. While they load, the library shows Adding 1 of 3 and the file's name.

The library showing only media, still empty, with an Add files button — **Media** chosen and nothing added yet: *Drop files here or add them*, or **Add files**.

The library with a picture under Images and a video under Videos — After adding a picture and a video. A video tile shows its length; hover it to play it.

Private by design. Files are kept in your browser's own storage on this computer, with transfer exceptions for requested AI generation described in Your data and AI. Videos from AI land under Videos too, and AI pictures under AI textures (AI animations).

Add files to the library first. The canvas and the Surfaces list take looks, pictures and videos dragged from the library, not files dragged straight from your desktop.

Songs

Import MP3, WAV, OGG or M4A, up to 300 MB, when this browser can decode the file. Songs appear in the library and belong on a scene's timeline song lane, not on a surface as a visual look. You can also choose a file directly in Add a song or drop it onto the lane. See song controls and the practical lesson.

2Put one on a surface

Click it in the library (opened from the surface's look): it becomes that layer's look, filling the surface (Cover). If the layer already shows a picture, only the file changes, and your pan, zoom and flow stay.
Drag it onto a surface on the canvas or in the Surfaces list: it goes on as a new layer on top, so the look below stays.
Drop it on Whole scene for one picture across all your surfaces (Whole scene).

A sunset picture on the Wall, with the look panel for the Image look — A picture on the Wall. The look panel shows the **Image** look: the picture, its presets and its settings.

To change the picture later, click it in the look panel: the library opens with only pictures (Choose an image). The ✕ beside it (No image) takes the picture off but keeps the layer.

3Position and fit

How a picture sits on its surface is set in the inspector, under Position & fit (click its heading to open it).

Setting	What it does
Fit	Contain: show the whole picture. Cover: fill the surface, cropping the edges (the usual choice). Stretch: stretch it to the surface's box. Corners, on scanned four-cornered surfaces: pin the picture's corners to the object's corners, in perspective.
Map across	This surface, or Whole scene: one picture across every surface.
Move X, Move Y, Scale, Rotate	Slide, zoom and turn the picture on the surface. Keep proportions scales both ways together.
Edges	What shows past the picture's edge: Stop, Repeat (tiles) or Mirror.
Reset placement	Back to fitted, centred and upright.

The Position and fit section of the inspector, open — Position & fit, open. Its heading shows *This surface* or *Whole scene* even when it is closed.

Simple mode shows Fit and Scale; click More… for the rest. For exact control over which part of a picture lands on which surface, see Position, fit and input mapping.

4Pictures: the Image look

Setting	What it does
Image	The picture. Click to choose another.
Pan	Slides the picture inside the surface.
Zoom	From 0.5× to 8×.
Distortion and Flow speed	Above 0, the picture drifts and ripples like liquid; Flow speed sets how fast.

Presets: Still, Gentle flow and Liquid dream. Transparent parts of a PNG stay see-through, so a logo can sit over another look.

The look panel for the Image look with its presets and settings — The Image look: presets, the picture, and the settings that make it drift.

5Videos: the Video look

Setting	What it does
Video	The clip. Click to choose another.
Clip speed	How fast the clip plays, from 0.1× to 4×.
Loop	Start again at the end (on by default).
Restart on cue	On (the default): a cue that brings the video in starts it from the beginning, on every projector at once. A video that was already showing keeps playing.
Tint, Brightness	Colour it, and make it darker or brighter (up to 2×).

Presets: Normal, Slow & warm and Cool & dim. In Simple mode, Loop and Restart on cue are under More settings.

The look panel for the Video look — The Video look on the Door: the clip, its colour and its playback.

Videos play silently and in sync. They play without sound (for music, use a sound source). Every projector follows one shared clock: a video that drifts more than a quarter of a second is put back in place, and smaller drifts are evened out by playing a little faster or slower.

Advanced The Video look's Motion group shows Clip speed, which sets how fast the clip plays, and Playback speed, the layer's pace that every look has. For a video, use Clip speed.

6Text

Open the library from the surface's look, type text in the search box and click Text (in Media & text).
In the look panel, type your words in the box (Type the text to show; up to 2,000 characters, and Enter starts a new line).
Try the presets: Title, Ticker (a scrolling news band) and Terminal (green letters typed out).

Settings	What they do
Font	Font, Weight and Italic: Manrope (built in), Sans, Serif, Mono, Condensed or Impact, from Light to Black. Only Manrope comes with prism; the others use your computer's fonts, and nothing is downloaded.
Size	Size (× surface height) is the letter size as a share of the surface's height; Shrink to fit keeps the text inside the margins.
Colours	Colour for the letters, an Outline round them, and a Background band behind them (raise Background opacity above 0 to see it).
Layout	Align, Vertical align, Margin, Line height and Letter spacing: where the text sits and how it is spaced.
Animation	None, Scroll left, Scroll right, Scroll up, Scroll down, Typewriter or Blink, with Scroll speed, Scroll gap, Typing speed (chars/s) and Blink rate (per s). The typewriter types the text, holds it for two seconds, then starts again.

The look panel for the Text look with the Ticker preset and new words typed in — The Text look with the **Ticker** preset and our own words.

The canvas with the picture on the Wall, the video on the Door and the ticker on the Window — The result: the picture on the Wall, the video on the Door and the ticker scrolling across the Window.

Simple mode shows Text, Font, Size and Colour first; Animation and the rest are under More settings.

7Delete a file

In the library, press Space on the picture or video (or right-click it) to see its details.
Click the bin, Delete. prism asks first, Delete this file?, and says how many layers use it: those layers are removed too.
Choose Delete, or Keep it.

Deleting removes the file from this computer. Layers that used it go with it. Keep your originals somewhere safe.

8Hints and tips

Size to fit the projector. A 1920 × 1080 picture or video is plenty for one projector; bigger files only take space.
MP4 (H.264) or WebM play everywhere. If a video won't add, convert it to one of those.
Logos with transparency. Use a PNG with a transparent background and put it on a layer over another look.
One picture over several objects. Use Whole scene: the picture carries on from one surface to the next as the audience sees it.
Make videos start on the beat of a show. Leave Restart on cue on, and give the video its own cue.
Text for signs. A Ticker on a thin surface makes a news band; Terminal on a screen-shaped surface types out messages.

9When something looks wrong

You see	Why	Fix
“only PNG, JPEG and WebP images are supported”	The picture is another format (such as HEIC or GIF).	Save it as PNG or JPEG first.
“is larger than 25 MB” / “1 GB”	The file is too big.	Make it smaller: a projector needs 1920 pixels across at most.
“this browser can't play … videos”	The browser can't decode that video.	Convert it to MP4 (H.264) or WebM.
The picture's edges are cut off	Fit is Cover, which fills the surface.	Choose Contain, or move and scale it.
Black bars beside the picture	Fit is Contain.	Choose Cover or Stretch.
Missing file	The picture or video was deleted from the library.	Click it and choose another.
The video doesn't start again on a cue	Restart on cue is off, or the video was already showing before the cue.	Turn it on; a video only restarts when a cue brings it in.
Scrolling text is cut off	Shrink to fit doesn't shrink along the scrolling direction.	Lower Size.

10Mouse and keyboard

Action	How
Add files	Add images, videos or songs · drop files on the library
Put a picture on this layer	Click it · `Enter`
Add it as a new layer	Drag it onto a surface · + in its details
Details	`Space` · right-click
Delete a file	`Delete` on its tile, or the bin in its details