Below, we will create a Manager/Client workflow using PIXERA and Presence. Need to play back content from one machine and output on another? This is the article to follow. We will do all of this without ever plugging a keyboard and mouse into the Client machine! Please follow this article from your Manager machine.

Networking

The more work we do up front, the faster it is to engage your Manager/Client workflow. That being said, the backbone of any reliable Manager/Client workflow is your network. For PIXERA, we suggest using an unmanaged network switch between your machines, turning the Firewall off, and separating this PIXERA Network from the internet. For more general information on networking and PIXERA, please refer to Networking Basics 

For my setup, my Manager machine's PIXERA network IP address is set to 192.168.9.104 and my Client machine is 192.168.9.105

When properly setup, a list of available servers on your network is visible in the left column of PIXERA Hub, which we will use soon to launch Presence on the Client machine.

If for some reason servers do not populate in that list, please confirm communication between the two machines using a ping test between the Manager and intended Client machines. If no pings are received, begin double-checking your network configuration before moving forward.

Presence Setup on Client Machine

Now that we have our network set up, let's setup the Client machine. Launch Hub on your Manager machine and navigate through the list of servers on the left side of the Hub window. When you see your Client machine, click it. You are now looking at all the Hub functions for that Client machine. Under Installs > Installed, find the version of PIXERA you wish to use. Then, click the Settings icon and select “Start Presence.” This launches Presence on the Client machine, whose network settings should be checked before proceeding.

If you are unsure of the Client's Presence network settings, remember you can remote into that machine directly from Hub (or PIXERA!) from your Manager machine. Right-click the Client machine from the list on the left side of Hub and select "VNC Connect." This will give you a remote connection to your Client machine. Now that you have remoted-in, you can check the network interface, or “Used Adapter IP." If it doesn't match the PIXERA network you set up earlier, click Configure Network and choose the proper network adapter. Once selected, close Presence and relaunch it. It will now open on the desired network interface, and each time in the future.

Notice the red square on the right side of the Presence window. When we have a proper connection setup on the Manager machine, this will turn green. For now this is okay, we can exit UltraVNC. We are done with the Client machine!

PIXERA Setup on Manager Machine

Again, our foundation lies in the connection between our machines. Launch PIXERA on your Manager machine and navigate to Settings > Discovery. Here, we will set up our Manager to discover it's Clients.

The first step is to set your Main Network Adapter to be the communication network adapter we set up earlier. For me, it is 192.168.9.104

If you had to make Network Adapter changes, restart PIXERA.

Now, we will populate the Client IP Filter. There are multiple ways to use this. If you know your Client's IP address, you can enter it directly here. If you don't know it, or there are many servers on your network, you can think of the filter like a Subnet Mask. Knowing that, if I set my filter to 255.255.255.0, all the servers on this network schema, with Presence launched, will be discovered. Pretty handy, right? For the sake of this article, I show both ways.

To ensure your Client machine is discoverable, click Show Discovery Status. A list of available engines will appear. If you see yours, great! It's time to move on.

Connect to Your Client and Output Content

Now, navigate to Screens and add two Generic Displays of your choice to your workspace (or whatever your project calls for!). For this article, one will hold content to output on our local Manager machine, the other will output from the Client machine. While we're at it, let's get some test content on those displays by navigating to the Compositing tab and drag and dropping a separate piece of content from your Resource tab onto each display. I like to add a Jump Cue to the end of one of the clips and press Play to keep my Timeline looping.
 

Finally, go to Mapping tab > Live

Here, you will see a list of machines that you made visible via Discovery settings, including your local Manager which is named Local and should have a green circular icon. This means this machine is active and ready to render and output! Though, you'll notice your Client machine's icon might be gray. To start this machine's engine, click the Client's name under the Live tab. Then, in the inspector on the right, select “Start” under the Engine menu. The gray icon will now turn green!

Finally, it's time to output. We'll assign our Manager's output first. Twirl down the triangle next to the Local machine to see the list of available I/O on this machine. Navigate to a desired GPU output and drag and drop it onto one of the displays. Then, in the inspector on the right, click the Active selection box. You should now see content playing back from one of your Manager's displays.

(For more ways to assign outputs, please see Assigning Outputs )

Now you can do the same for your Client machine. Twirl down the triangle next to the Client's name and select a GPU output you wish to use. Drag and drop it onto the other display, then click the Active selection box on the right. Now you should have content playing out of your Client's GPU!

(For the integrity of the recording, because I only have my GUI display, I did not select Active)

Want to go further? Have a look at the following articles:

Manager Backup 

PIXERA Backup and Usage Presets 

PIXERA 25.1 INTER 30 | 21. March 2025 | R.J.