Skip to content
RENDERWAVERENDERWAVE

Output Window

RENDERWAVE renders from the moment it launches. Getting that picture onto a projector or a second screen takes a separate step. This page covers picking a display, going fullscreen, and closing the output without cutting your show by accident.

Open the Output settings

Section titled “Open the Output settings”

Open Settings and select the Output tab. The EXTERNAL DISPLAY section at the top is where fullscreen output lives.

Pick a display

Section titled “Pick a display”

The Target Screen picker lists every display macOS currently sees. If you plug in a projector or a second monitor after RENDERWAVE is already running, hit Refresh to rescan before it shows up in the list.

Go fullscreen

Section titled “Go fullscreen”

With a target screen selected, click Open Fullscreen. RENDERWAVE opens a borderless, fullscreen window on that display, with no title bar and no dock over the visual.

The external display runs on its own GPU command queue, separate from your main window. A busy Creator view won’t steal frames from the display the crowd is watching.

Fit the picture to the screen

Section titled “Fit the picture to the screen”

A few controls in the same section set how the frame sits on the target display:

  • Keep Aspect Ratio. On by default. Turn it off and Scaling Mode unlocks a Stretch option that fills the screen edge to edge, ignoring aspect ratio.
  • Content Aspect. Match Output, 16:9, 9:16, 21:9, or 1:1. This is the aspect ratio RENDERWAVE treats the content as having before it scales to your screen.
  • Scaling Mode. Fit letterboxes to keep the whole frame visible; Fill crops to fill the screen with no bars.
  • Pixel Aspect. For displays with non-square pixels. Leave this at 1.0 unless you know your hardware needs otherwise.
  • Safe Area. Adds a horizontal and vertical inset, in case your projector or LED processor cuts off the edges of the frame.

Match Display handles the common case in one click. It reads the selected screen’s native resolution and aspect ratio and applies both to your render settings.

Closing fullscreen output

Section titled “Closing fullscreen output”

Click Close Output in the same panel, or press Esc.

The performance HUD

Section titled “The performance HUD”

A small floating panel sits in the corner of the output display, showing live FPS, frame time, render size, output size, and the name of the current shader. It fades out after a few seconds without mouse movement and returns when you move the mouse, so it stays clear of the visual once you’re locked in.

If the display disconnects

Section titled “If the display disconnects”

If the external display is unplugged or put to sleep mid-show, RENDERWAVE closes the output window and shows an “External display disconnected” message instead of leaving a dead window open. Reconnect the display, select it again under Target Screen, and open fullscreen once more.

Quick access from Performance view

Section titled “Quick access from Performance view”

You can manage output from the live view. Open the EFFECTS panel and expand DISPLAY EFFECTS. It carries the same Target Screen, Scaling, and Open Fullscreen / Close Output controls, without opening full Settings.

Next steps

Section titled “Next steps”