Using Templates

You can create and arrange controls directly on the canvas and then connect them to HALion parameters. This is a very straightforward way of creating a macro page. However, with this workflow, once the page is set up, it becomes very difficult to change the look of some controls globally, because you have to edit every single instance of these controls on the page. Therefore, it is often better practice to work with templates.

Templates allow you to combine several controls with a specific look and feel in a single unit that can be used several times on a macro page and that can be connected to different parameters.

If you use templates and a modification is necessary, you only have to change the template to apply the changes to all controls that use the template.

Furthermore, templates can be saved in libraries, which means that you can build your own control template library and use controls from there in your projects.

Using templates is a very powerful way to create sophisticated interfaces that still allow for quick changes of the overall look, simply by modifying a few parameters.

There is no hard and fast rule when it comes to deciding when to create a template and when to use the controls directly on the macro page, but for big projects or projects that are similar in style and/or share a lot of their content, creating templates can save a lot of time and keep a lot of flexibility until a very late stage in your work.