Main Interface

Application Window

Laika opens in a maximized window by default (fullscreen can be enabled via startup preference).

Main Components:

Menu Bar (Top):
File, Sources, Layout, Pads, View, Help menus providing access to all application functions.

Viewing Canvas (Centre):
The main area displays your active layout with viewer tiles arranged according to the current layout configuration. This is where you spend most of your time monitoring video sources.

Status Bar (Bottom):
Provides at-a-glance information:

• Left: Current pad name (if saved) and layout name
• Centre: Connection status and source count
• Right: License status and application version

Menu Organization

File Menu:

• Preferences (Ctrl+P): Open global preferences dialog
• Layout Designer (Ctrl+L): Open custom layout editor
• Quit (Ctrl+Q): Exit application

Sources Menu:

• Refresh Sources: Manually trigger NDI® discovery
• Clear All Sources: Disconnect all viewers simultaneously
• Discovery Server Config: Configure cross-subnet discovery

Layout Menu:

• Preset layouts (1x1, 1x2, 2x2, 3x3, 4x4, 8x4, etc.)
• Custom layouts (appears when you’ve saved custom layouts)
• Manage Custom Layouts: Import, export, delete custom layouts

Pads Menu:

• Save Current Pad: Store current configuration for recall
• List of saved pads (click to load)
• Manage Pads: Organize, rename, delete, reorder pads
• Pads Overview (Ctrl+O): Visual pad browser with thumbnails

View Menu:

• Fullscreen (Ctrl+F): Toggle fullscreen mode
• Show Router: Open the NDI® Router crosspoint matrix
• Light Mode / Dark Mode: Theme switcher

Help Menu:

• Check for Updates: Manual update check
• Manage License: License activation and status
• About Fetch | Laika: Version and build information
• Open Debug Viewer: Launch single-source diagnostics tool

Viewer Context Menu

Right-click any viewer tile to access:

Source Selection:

• List of all discovered NDI® sources
• Recent sources appear at top
• Unavailable sources shown dimmed

Caption / UMD:

• Set Caption / UMD: Open the caption editor for this viewer’s source

Audio Controls:

• Toggle Stereo Pair N: Link channels as stereo pairs

Source Management:

• Clear Source: Disconnect current source

Viewer Display Mode

Each viewer tile can render in one of two modes, configurable in Preferences:

Overlay (Default):
Video fills the entire cell. Source name, tally border, and audio meters are drawn over the top of the video. Maximises the visible picture area.

Framed:
Overlays are given dedicated screen space outside the video area. The source name bar moves to a strip at the bottom of the cell, and the video is framed within the remaining space. Audio meters split into two groups — left channels on the left edge, right channels on the right edge — based on the actual channel count of the source.

Framed mode is useful when overlay text is obscuring important content, or when you want a cleaner visual separation between picture and metadata.

Tally Indicators

Laika detects tally state automatically from NDI® source names. When a source name matches a tally pattern, its viewer tile displays a colored border:

• Red border — source is on Program
• Green border — source is on Preview
• No border — source is off-air

Tally borders appear in both Overlay and Framed display modes. In Framed mode, the tally color is shown in the bottom source name strip rather than as a full border overlay.

Tally state is also tracked in the {tally} expression variable available in captions, and can optionally be burned into NDI® and DeckLink output streams via Output Overlays in Preferences.

Keyboard Navigation

Escape key navigates backward through the view hierarchy:

• In a single-viewer (projected) view — returns to the launchpad multiviewer
• On a launchpad — returns to the launchpad overview grid
• On the overview — no further action

This allows quick keyboard-driven navigation without reaching for the mouse.

Visual Feedback

Viewer States:

• Empty: Grey tile with viewer number only
• Connecting: “Connecting to source…” message with spinner
• Active: Video playing with source info and audio meters
• No Signal: “No Signal” message (source dropped or stopped sending)
• Audio Monitoring: Speaker icon highlighted when audio is enabled for that viewer
• Stereo Pair Monitoring: Blue diamonds visible when stereo pairs are being monitored

Audio Meter Colors:

• Green: Normal operating levels (good)
• Yellow: Approaching peak (caution, watch for clipping)
• Red: Hot levels (risk of distortion or clipping)

Status Messages:

Bottom bar shows:

• “Discovering sources…” during manual refresh
• “Loading pad…” when switching pads
• “Applying layout…” when switching layouts
• Error messages if operations fail

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